"A family based in north London is looking for an remarkable and experienced educator to assist their most junior child on his first steps to becoming an British gentleman."
When reading this post, you might readily skip the phrase "first-steps" as simple a turn of phrase.
However, it could be the crucial element of this unusual job advert, as it attempts to recruit a tutor for a infant.
Hundreds of responses have now been submitted since the anonymous family published their search for the highly paid tutor, who has to be "someone very special".
During the past few weeks, the post has received attention throughout the news, with many wondering why?
Innovative Idea
A tutoring expert, CEO and founder of Tutors International, which is helping the family in their search, said that in spite of early skepticism, he viewed the concept "far sighted", and "advanced".
When he met the family, he mentioned they recognized the unconventional character of their requirement, and how immature their son is.
Nevertheless, they clarified that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to get a tutor, as they had waited until their firstborn was five, and by that age "cultural conditioning had already set in".
What exactly does the family indicate by "cultural bias"?
It's "comprehensive", Adam replied. "How you eat, the way you speak".
He stated the older sibling had absorbed "very nuanced, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had adopted their cultural habits. The family explained to him they did not want the same situation to recur with their younger child.
The intention: To engage a UK tutor, who must speak with RP, to influence the baby from the very start.
Osmotic Learning
"A great deal of the education at the start here is kind of osmotic," stated the CEO.
It's through this natural absorption that the family are hoping the child will acquire the UK customs they wish to instil.
The consultant noted the tutor must be somebody who went to "prestigious academies – similar types of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The educator simply needs to be the suitable individual, they'll be doing things they may not realize they're doing, just naturally," he commented.
Expense Not a Factor
The family told Adam the chosen tutor should preferably also have understanding of or enthusiasm in horse riding, winter sports, the arts and instrumental training so as to inspire the child in a diverse set of interests.
Additionally though, he said the family desired the tutor to register the child on a range of courses so the child would be "equestrian training and learning an musical instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's perspective, guiding their son grow into a "English gentleman" will bring about accomplishment and provide access.
"Considering the rights and wrongs of that, because it's undoubtedly a social class indicator," he comments.
However, despite all this instruction in "UK identity", would the child pick up alleged cultural leaning from the multicultural family he lives with regardless?
"Certainly", replied Adam. "The parents know this may not work, but they've just taken the attitude of, 'let's give it a go and we should start as early as we can', because the expense of it is irrelevant," he stated.
Impractical
There are some in the private teaching field who share similar concerns.
An education leader, chief executive of an educational organization, who supplies private tutors, wrote that "the process of becoming bicultural, or indeed, becoming oneself, is something that must be grown into, not manufactured."
The expert explained that he had moved from Asia to the UK at the period of childhood, and had been raised understanding and living both cultures. He went on to be educated at the University of Cambridge.
"The notion that an individual can serve as a representation of UK identity, someone who can in some way impart the characteristics of a British gentleman upon a infant child, appears naive and unfeasible," he wrote.
"Based on my background, employing a distinctly English tutor from early childhood will will not necessarily achieve the goal they want.
"I never had such a tutor, and nevertheless I have been privileged enough to experience many of the experiences they hope for their son."
He added: "The reality is, self-identity cannot be forced from the external environment; it must be embraced, and it must come from within."
Purchasing UK Culture
Of course, Britishness is something Adam believes can be educated – and sold.
"In my view the reality that the international society regards us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
