"Parents residing in north London wants to find an exceptional and experienced educator to assist their youngest child on his first steps to growing into an English gentleman."
When reading this post, you might readily miss the term "first-steps" as simple a turn of phrase.
However, it may be the most significant element of this unusual employment listing, as it seeks to recruit a tutor for a 12-month-old.
Numerous of applications have since been sent in since the unnamed family advertised their search for the £180k-a-year tutor, who must be "an exceptional individual".
Over the last few weeks, the advert has received notice across the press, with many questioning why?
Innovative Idea
A tutoring expert, CEO and founder of an education consultancy, which is assisting the family in their quest, said that despite first doubt, he found the plan "forward-looking", and "innovative".
When he consulted the family, he noted they recognized the unconventional aspect of their requirement, and how young their son is.
Nevertheless, they explained that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had waited until their elder sibling was five, and by that stage "cultural influence had already set in".
What precisely did the family mean by "cultural bias"?
It's "comprehensive", the expert responded. "The way you eat, how you speak".
He explained the elder child had picked up "very nuanced, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had taken on their cultural ways. The family informed Adam they wished to avoid history to repeat itself with their new baby.
The plan: To bring in a English tutor, who needs to speak with RP, to shape the baby from day one.
Natural Absorption
"A great deal of the education at the beginning here is rather absorbed naturally," explained the expert.
It's through this subtle influence that the family are aiming the child will adopt the British traits they wish to impart.
The consultant noted the tutor needed to be someone who studied at "the appropriate educational institutions – the same kinds of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The tutor must be the appropriate candidate, they'll be performing things they may not realize they're doing, simply by nature," he added.
Expense Not a Factor
The family explained to him the selected educator should ideally also have understanding of or enthusiasm in riding, skiing, the arts and music so as to shape the child in a diverse set of passions.
Additionally though, he said the family hoped the tutor to sign up the child on a variety of courses so the child would be "horseback riding and learning an tool by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's minds, helping their son become a "UK sophisticate" will bring about success and create opportunities.
"For all the pros and cons of that, because it's certainly a class statement," he adds.
Yet, in spite of all this guidance in "UK identity", would the child adopt alleged cultural influence from the multicultural family he resides with in any case?
"Absolutely", replied the CEO. "The parents know this could fail, but they've simply adopted the view of, 'we should try and let's go as early as we can', because the price of it is not a concern," he said.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
There are some in the education sector who have these concerns.
An education leader, chief executive of an educational organization, who supplies individual instructors, commented that "the process of adopting dual cultures, or in fact, forming one's identity, is something that must be grown into, not manufactured."
The expert explained that he had relocated from Asia to the UK at the age of childhood, and had been brought up experiencing and living dual heritages. He progressed to learn at a prestigious UK institution.
"The concept that one individual can function as a embodiment of Britishness, someone who can possibly transfer the qualities of a UK sophisticate upon a one-year-old child, strikes me as idealistic and unfeasible," he commented.
"In my experience, engaging a distinctly English tutor from infancy will will not instantly produce the result they desire.
"I did not have such a tutor, and nevertheless I have been fortunate enough to experience many of the opportunities they hope for their son."
He stated: "The fact is, self-identity can not be dictated from the external environment; it must be chosen, and it must be internally driven."
Acquiring Englishness
Certainly, Britishness is something the CEO hopes can be educated – and sold.
"I believe the reality that the international society views us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
