"A family located in North London is looking for an remarkable and experienced tutor to support their smallest child on his first steps to growing into an British gentleman."
Looking at this advertisement, you might easily skip the wording "first-steps" as simple an expression.
However, it could be the most significant aspect of this distinctive job advert, as it attempts to hire a mentor for a 12-month-old.
Numerous of submissions have since been submitted since the unnamed family published their search for the £180,000 per year tutor, who needs to be "an exceptional individual".
During the past few weeks, the listing has gained attention across the press, with numerous asking why?
Forward-Thinking Method
Adam Caller, head and founder of Tutors International, which is helping the family in their search, explained that notwithstanding early doubt, he considered the plan "visionary", and "progressive".
When he met the family, he mentioned they understood the unusual nature of their request, and how early in age their son is.
However, they explained that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had held off until their elder sibling was five, and by that stage "cultural conditioning had already become established".
What exactly does the family refer to by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "everything", Adam answered. "The way you eat, the way you speak".
He stated the firstborn had adopted "extremely delicate, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had adopted their cultural ways. The family informed him they did not want the same situation to happen again with their younger child.
The plan: To hire a British tutor, who must speak with standard English accent, to guide the baby right from the beginning.
Osmotic Learning
"A great deal of the education at the beginning here is rather absorbed naturally," said the CEO.
It's by means of this osmosis that the family are hoping the child will pick up the UK customs they aim to cultivate.
The consultant said the tutor needed to be an individual who attended "prestigious academies – the same kinds of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The instructor must be the right kind of person, they'll be doing things they aren't even aware they're doing, simply by nature," he added.
Expense Not a Factor
The family told Adam the selected educator should ideally also have knowledge of or passion in riding, alpine skiing, artistic pursuits and musical activities so as to shape the child in a broad spectrum of interests.
Furthermore though, he said the family desired the tutor to register the child on a selection of classes so the child would be "equestrian training and picking up an instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's perspective, assisting their son become a "English gentleman" will result in accomplishment and provide access.
"For all the rights and wrongs of that, because it's undoubtedly a class statement," he adds.
Yet, despite all this guidance in "UK identity", would the child adopt alleged cultural bias from the international family he resides with in any case?
"Yes", said the CEO. "The parents know this might not succeed, but they've merely embraced the perspective of, 'we should try and we should start as early as we can', because the expense of it is not relevant," he said.
Overly Optimistic
There are some in the tutoring industry who have these doubts.
An education leader, head and founder of Blue Education, who also offer individual instructors, stated that "the development of adopting dual cultures, or indeed, discovering oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not engineered."
The expert explained that he had moved from Asia to the United Kingdom at the time of childhood, and had been raised experiencing and embodying two backgrounds. He continued to be educated at Cambridge University.
"The concept that an individual can act as a embodiment of UK identity, an individual who can in some way transplant the qualities of a English gentleman to a 12-month-old child, appears naive and unrealistic," he stated.
"From my perspective, having a distinctly British tutor from early childhood will will not automatically create the outcome they want.
"I never had that kind of mentor, and nevertheless I have been fortunate enough to enjoy many of the situations they hope for their son."
He added: "The fact is, self-identity should not be imposed from the outside; it must be chosen, and it must be internally driven."
Purchasing UK Culture
Certainly, English culture is something the CEO believes can be taught – and marketed.
"In my view the reality that the world holds us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
