"A household located in north London is looking for an exceptional and skilled instructor to assist their smallest child on his first steps to becoming an English gentleman."
When reading this listing, you might naturally miss the term "first-steps" as just a turn of phrase.
But, it may be the crucial part of this unique employment listing, as it seeks to hire a teacher for a 12-month-old.
Hundreds of applications have now been sent in since the unidentified family posted their search for the £180,000 per year tutor, who must be "a uniquely qualified person".
Over the last few weeks, the listing has attracted attention across the media, with several wondering why?
Forward-Thinking Method
The CEO, head and founder of Tutors International, which is assisting the family in their search, said that despite initial skepticism, he found the plan "far sighted", and "progressive".
When he spoke with the family, he mentioned they appreciated the atypical aspect of their requirement, and how immature their son is.
Nevertheless, they stated that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had postponed until their older child was five, and by that point "cultural influence had already become established".
What exactly did the family mean by "cultural leaning"?
It's "everything", he answered. "How you eat, the way you speak".
He stated the older sibling had adopted "very nuanced, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had taken on their cultural norms. The family informed him they wished to avoid history to repeat itself with their younger child.
The strategy: To engage a British tutor, who needs to speak with RP, to guide the baby from the very start.
Subtle Influence
"A lot of the education at the beginning here is somewhat acquired indirectly," explained the CEO.
It's through this natural absorption that the family are expecting the child will adopt the British traits they aim to instil.
Adam explained the tutor had to be someone who attended "the right kinds of schools – comparable categories of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The educator must be the right kind of person, they'll be doing things they may not realize they're doing, just naturally," he said.
Cost Not Relevant
The family told the expert the successful candidate should ideally also have understanding of or interest in horse riding, winter sports, the arts and musical activities so as to inspire the child in a diverse set of interests.
Additionally though, he said the family hoped the tutor to sign up the child on a variety of courses so the child would be "pony-riding and picking up an tool by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's minds, assisting their son develop into a "English gentleman" will result in accomplishment and provide access.
"Considering the rights and wrongs of that, because it's certainly a social class indicator," he comments.
Yet, despite all this tutelage in "UK identity", could the child pick up what is termed cultural influence from the multicultural family he is raised by in any case?
"Yes", replied the CEO. "They know this might not succeed, but they've merely embraced the perspective of, 'why not attempt it and let's go as soon as we can', because the price of it is irrelevant," he said.
Overly Optimistic
A number of in the tutoring industry who have similar reservations.
Another CEO, CEO and founder of an educational organization, who also offer personal educators, wrote that "the journey of becoming bicultural, or in fact, forming one's identity, is something that must be lived into, not engineered."
He wrote that he had moved from China to the United Kingdom at the time of 7 years old, and had been brought up understanding and living two backgrounds. He continued to be educated at Cambridge University.
"The notion that one individual can act as a embodiment of UK identity, a person who can in some way transplant the attributes of a UK sophisticate upon a one-year-old child, appears optimistic and impractical," he stated.
"Based on my background, having a quintessentially English tutor from infancy will will not necessarily produce the goal they hope for.
"I wasn't provided with such a figure, and yet I have been privileged enough to enjoy many of the situations they hope for their son."
He continued: "The truth is, cultural identity should not be imposed from the outside; it must be embraced, and it must originate internally."
Purchasing UK Culture
Certainly, Britishness is something the expert thinks can be educated – and commercialized.
"I think the reality that the world views us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
