"A family residing in the northern part of London is looking for an extraordinary and skilled tutor to assist their smallest child on his first steps to turning into an English gentleman."
Upon seeing this advertisement, you might naturally miss the phrase "first-steps" as mere a turn of phrase.
However, it could be the most important element of this distinctive job advert, as it aims to recruit a mentor for a one-year-old.
Numerous of submissions have already been submitted since the anonymous family published their search for the £180,000 per year tutor, who must be "someone very special".
In recent few weeks, the post has received notice across the press, with many questioning why?
Forward-Thinking Method
A tutoring expert, CEO and founder of Tutors International, which is supporting the family in their search, stated that notwithstanding early scepticism, he viewed the idea "far sighted", and "progressive".
When he met the family, he mentioned they appreciated the unusual nature of their demand, and how young their son is.
However, they stated that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to get a tutor, as they had postponed until their elder sibling was five, and by that point "cultural conditioning had by then taken hold".
What precisely does the family mean by "cultural leaning"?
It's "all-encompassing", the expert replied. "The way you eat, the manner you speak".
He explained the older sibling had adopted "extremely delicate, body language" from the family, and had assumed their cultural habits. The family told the consultant they did not want history to recur with their younger child.
The plan: To engage a English tutor, who needs to speak with standard English accent, to guide the baby from day one.
Subtle Influence
"A lot of the learning at the start here is kind of osmotic," said the expert.
It's via this natural absorption that the family are hoping the child will adopt the British traits they want to impart.
The consultant explained the tutor had to be someone who studied at "the appropriate educational institutions – the same kinds of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The tutor must be the suitable individual, they'll be doing things they may not realize they're doing, simply by nature," he added.
Expense Not a Factor
The family explained to Adam the successful candidate should ideally also have knowledge of or enthusiasm in riding, winter sports, artistic pursuits and instrumental training so as to inspire the child in a diverse set of passions.
More than that though, he stated the family desired the tutor to register the child on a variety of courses so the child would be "equestrian training and learning an musical instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's perspective, assisting their son develop into a "UK sophisticate" will bring about success and create opportunities.
"Considering the rights and wrongs of that, because it's undoubtedly a status symbol," he comments.
Yet, despite all this tutelage in "UK identity", could the child pick up what is termed cultural leaning from the globally influenced family he is raised by anyway?
"Yes", replied he. "The parents realize this may not work, but they've just taken the attitude of, 'we should try and we'll proceed as quickly as we can', because the expense of it is not a concern," he stated.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
Several in the tutoring industry who have these concerns.
An education leader, head and founder of a tutoring service, who provides individual instructors, wrote that "the development of adopting dual cultures, or indeed, forming one's identity, is something that must be lived into, not designed."
Peter wrote that he had moved from the Far East to the Britain at the period of childhood, and had been raised knowing and embodying dual heritages. He went on to be educated at Cambridge University.
"The notion that an individual can act as a representation of English culture, a person who can possibly impart the attributes of a British gentleman to a infant child, strikes me as optimistic and unrealistic," he stated.
"In my experience, employing a distinctly UK tutor from infancy will does not necessarily create the outcome they hope for.
"I never had such a figure, and yet I have been privileged enough to experience numerous of the opportunities they desire for their son."
He stated: "The truth is, cultural identity should not be dictated from the external environment; it must be chosen, and it must originate internally."
Acquiring Englishness
Certainly, Britishness is something the CEO hopes can be educated – and sold.
"I believe the reality that the world regards us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
