"A family located in the northern part of London is looking for an exceptional and qualified instructor to support their smallest child on his first steps to becoming an English gentleman."
When reading this listing, you might readily overlook the term "first-steps" as just figurative language.
Yet, it may be the most important aspect of this unusual job advert, as it seeks to recruit a teacher for a 12-month-old.
Many of applications have since been received since the unnamed family posted their request for the £180,000 per year tutor, who must be "a uniquely qualified person".
During the past few weeks, the post has gained notice across the press, with many wondering why?
Innovative Idea
A tutoring expert, chief executive of an education consultancy, which is supporting the family in their hunt, stated that in spite of initial scepticism, he considered the concept "forward-looking", and "progressive".
When he consulted the family, he mentioned they understood the unusual nature of their demand, and how young their son is.
Nevertheless, they clarified that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had held off until their older child was five, and by that age "cultural conditioning had by then become established".
What precisely did the family refer to by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "everything", Adam replied. "How you eat, how you speak".
He said the elder child had picked up "extremely delicate, body language" from the family, and had adopted their cultural norms. The family informed him they hoped to prevent the same situation to recur with their infant.
The strategy: To engage a British tutor, who must speak with Received Pronunciation, to influence the baby from day one.
Natural Absorption
"Much of the learning at the outset here is somewhat absorbed naturally," explained the CEO.
It's through this subtle influence that the family are aiming the child will adopt the English characteristics they aim to cultivate.
He explained the tutor must be someone who went to "prestigious academies – the same kinds of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The instructor must be the suitable individual, they'll be doing things they may not realize they're doing, effortlessly," he added.
Cost Not Relevant
The family told the expert the successful candidate should ideally also have familiarity of or enthusiasm in horse riding, winter sports, creative fields and musical activities so as to shape the child in a broad spectrum of passions.
More than that though, he said the family hoped the tutor to register the child on a range of classes so the child would be "pony-riding and starting an tool by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's perspective, guiding their son become a "British gentleman" will bring about success and open doors.
"For all the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's undoubtedly a status symbol," he notes.
Yet, notwithstanding all this tutelage in "English culture", might the child absorb what is termed cultural leaning from the international family he resides with regardless?
"Yes", said he. "They realize this may not work, but they've just taken the perspective of, 'why not attempt it and we'll proceed as soon as we can', because the price of it is not relevant," he said.
Impractical
Several in the private teaching field who share these concerns.
Another CEO, head and founder of a tutoring service, who provides individual instructors, wrote that "the development of adopting dual cultures, or actually, becoming oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not engineered."
The expert noted that he had moved from China to the Britain at the age of 7 years old, and had been brought up experiencing and embodying two backgrounds. He progressed to learn at Cambridge University.
"The concept that one individual can function as a embodiment of Britishness, a person who can somehow transfer the attributes of a British gentleman to a infant child, strikes me as idealistic and impractical," he wrote.
"From my perspective, engaging a distinctly British tutor from early childhood will not automatically achieve the outcome they hope for.
"I wasn't provided with such a tutor, and however I have been privileged enough to live many of the opportunities they desire for their son."
He continued: "The reality is, cultural identity can not be dictated from the outside; it must be embraced, and it must come from within."
Buying Britishness
Certainly, Britishness is something the expert believes can be instructed – and sold.
"I think the reality that the global community views us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
