"A family located in North London is looking for an exceptional and qualified instructor to assist their youngest child on his first steps to becoming an British gentleman."
When reading this listing, you might naturally overlook the phrase "first-steps" as simple figurative language.
But, it may be the most important element of this unique employment listing, as it seeks to recruit a mentor for a 12-month-old.
Numerous of responses have since been submitted since the unnamed family advertised their call for the £180,000 per year tutor, who has to be "someone very special".
Over the last few weeks, the advert has received interest across the news, with numerous asking why?
Innovative Idea
A tutoring expert, CEO and founder of Tutors International, which is supporting the family in their hunt, said that despite first skepticism, he considered the plan "forward-looking", and "advanced".
When he met the family, he said they recognized the unusual aspect of their requirement, and how immature their son is.
But, they explained that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had postponed until their older child was five, and by that age "cultural conditioning had already become established".
What precisely did the family refer to by "cultural leaning"?
It's "comprehensive", the expert answered. "How you eat, how you speak".
He stated the firstborn had absorbed "very nuanced, unspoken signals" from the family, and had adopted their cultural habits. The family informed Adam they wished to avoid history to repeat itself with their infant.
The plan: To hire a UK tutor, who needs to speak with Received Pronunciation, to influence the baby from the very start.
Osmotic Learning
"A lot of the learning at the start here is kind of osmotic," said the expert.
It's through this natural absorption that the family are aiming the child will acquire the British traits they want to instil.
He said the tutor needed to be someone who studied at "the appropriate educational institutions – similar types of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The educator just has to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be carrying out things they don't even know they're doing, simply by nature," he commented.
Expense Not a Factor
The family informed the expert the successful candidate should ideally also have understanding of or interest in riding, winter sports, artistic pursuits and instrumental training so as to shape the child in a diverse set of hobbies.
Furthermore though, he stated the family desired the tutor to register the child on a selection of classes so the child would be "equestrian training and starting an musical instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's view, assisting their son become a "British gentleman" will bring about accomplishment and provide access.
"For all the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's undoubtedly a status symbol," he adds.
However, notwithstanding all this instruction in "English culture", could the child pick up what is termed cultural bias from the multicultural family he resides with in any case?
"Absolutely", replied he. "The family understand this might not succeed, but they've merely embraced the attitude of, 'we should try and let's go as soon as we can', because the expense of it is not relevant," he stated.
Overly Optimistic
A number of in the tutoring industry who share these reservations.
An education leader, chief executive of Blue Education, who provides individual instructors, commented that "the development of becoming bicultural, or indeed, becoming oneself, is something that must be lived into, not engineered."
Peter noted that he had emigrated from China to the UK at the age of 7 years old, and had been brought up experiencing and living dual heritages. He went on to be educated at the University of Cambridge.
"The concept that an individual can function as a embodiment of UK identity, a person who can in some way transfer the qualities of a British gentleman upon a infant child, appears naive and unfeasible," he stated.
"Based on my background, employing a typically UK tutor from babyhood will will not instantly produce the result they desire.
"I did not have such a figure, and nevertheless I have been fortunate enough to live many of the experiences they aspire for their son."
He continued: "The fact is, cultural identity should not be imposed from the outside; it must be selected, and it must come from within."
Acquiring Englishness
Certainly, English culture is something the expert hopes can be educated – and commercialized.
"I think the situation that the international society views us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
