"Parents residing in North London seeks an remarkable and experienced educator to guide their most junior child on his first steps to turning into an British gentleman."
Looking at this listing, you might naturally overlook the wording "first-steps" as just a turn of phrase.
Yet, it could be the most important aspect of this unusual employment listing, as it seeks to recruit a teacher for a infant.
Numerous of submissions have already been submitted since the unidentified family published their request for the highly paid tutor, who has to be "someone very special".
During the past few weeks, the post has gained attention throughout the news, with numerous asking why?
Innovative Idea
Adam Caller, CEO and founder of Tutors International, which is supporting the family in their hunt, stated that despite early doubt, he found the idea "far sighted", and "innovative".
When he consulted the family, he said they recognized the unusual aspect of their requirement, and how immature their son is.
However, they explained that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to get a tutor, as they had held off until their elder sibling was five, and by that stage "cultural influence had by then become established".
But what did the family mean by "cultural leaning"?
It's "all-encompassing", Adam answered. "The way you eat, the manner you speak".
He stated the elder child had adopted "really subtle, unspoken signals" from the family, and had adopted their cultural norms. The family informed Adam they did not want history to recur with their infant.
The strategy: To hire a UK tutor, who must speak with Received Pronunciation, to shape the baby right from the beginning.
Subtle Influence
"A great deal of the learning at the outset here is rather acquired indirectly," said the expert.
It's by means of this osmosis that the family are hoping the child will acquire the British traits they wish to instil.
Adam noted the tutor needed to be somebody who attended "the right kinds of schools – comparable categories of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The instructor simply needs to be the suitable individual, they'll be performing things they don't even know they're doing, simply by nature," he commented.
Cost Not Relevant
The family told Adam the chosen tutor should ideally also have knowledge of or interest in equestrian activities, winter sports, artistic pursuits and instrumental training so as to inspire the child in a diverse set of passions.
Additionally though, he said the family wanted the tutor to sign up the child on a variety of courses so the child would be "pony-riding and picking up an musical instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's minds, helping their son grow into a "UK sophisticate" will bring about achievement and create opportunities.
"Taking into account the pros and cons of that, because it's certainly a status symbol," he notes.
But, notwithstanding all this instruction in "Britishness", could the child absorb what is termed cultural leaning from the international family he lives with anyway?
"Yes", answered Adam. "The parents know this may not work, but they've simply adopted the view of, 'we should try and we'll proceed as soon as we can', because the cost of it is not a concern," he said.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
Several in the tutoring industry who express similar concerns.
Another CEO, CEO and founder of Blue Education, who also offer personal educators, stated that "the development of becoming bicultural, or actually, forming one's identity, is something that must be experienced personally, not engineered."
Peter noted that he had emigrated from China to the UK at the time of childhood, and had been educated knowing and living two backgrounds. He went on to learn at Cambridge University.
"The idea that an individual can act as a living vessel of English culture, someone who can somehow transplant the attributes of a British gentleman onto a one-year-old child, seems to me idealistic and impractical," he commented.
"From my perspective, employing a quintessentially British tutor from early childhood will does not automatically create the result they want.
"I did not have that kind of mentor, and nevertheless I have been privileged enough to live many of the situations they hope for their son."
He continued: "The truth is, cultural identity should not be imposed from the external environment; it must be chosen, and it must be internally driven."
Buying Britishness
Of course, English culture is something the expert hopes can be taught – and commercialized.
"In my view the fact that the world holds us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
