"A family located in the northern part of London seeks an remarkable and qualified tutor to support their smallest child on his first steps to becoming an English gentleman."
Upon seeing this advertisement, you might easily overlook the phrase "first-steps" as mere an expression.
But, it might be the crucial aspect of this unique employment listing, as it attempts to recruit a teacher for a infant.
Hundreds of submissions have already been sent in since the unnamed family posted their request for the £180,000 per year tutor, who needs to be "a uniquely qualified person".
In recent few weeks, the post has gained interest across the media, with many wondering why?
Progressive Approach
Adam Caller, CEO and founder of an education consultancy, which is assisting the family in their hunt, stated that in spite of early scepticism, he viewed the idea "forward-looking", and "advanced".
When he met the family, he said they appreciated the atypical nature of their demand, and how young their son is.
But, they stated that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had waited until their older child was five, and by that stage "cultural conditioning had by then taken hold".
What precisely does the family indicate by "cultural leaning"?
It's "all-encompassing", Adam responded. "The manner you eat, the manner you speak".
He stated the elder child had absorbed "really subtle, body language" from the family, and had assumed their cultural ways. The family explained to him they hoped to prevent the same situation to repeat itself with their younger child.
The intention: To engage a UK tutor, who should speak with RP, to shape the baby from the very start.
Osmotic Learning
"A lot of the learning at the start here is rather acquired indirectly," explained the expert.
It's via this subtle influence that the family are aiming the child will adopt the UK customs they aim to cultivate.
The consultant noted the tutor needed to be somebody who studied at "the appropriate educational institutions – the same kinds of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The educator must be the suitable individual, they'll be performing things they don't even know they're doing, just naturally," he said.
Expense Not a Factor
The family told Adam the successful candidate should ideally also have familiarity of or enthusiasm in riding, skiing, creative fields and instrumental training so as to influence the child in a broad spectrum of interests.
Additionally though, he explained the family hoped the tutor to sign up the child on a variety of classes so the child would be "pony-riding and picking up an musical instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's minds, guiding their son grow into a "British gentleman" will result in achievement and create opportunities.
"Taking into account the rights and wrongs of that, because it's certainly a status symbol," he adds.
Yet, in spite of all this instruction in "English culture", would the child pick up alleged cultural influence from the multicultural family he is raised by anyway?
"Certainly", said he. "They know this could fail, but they've simply adopted the perspective of, 'let's give it a go and let's go as soon as we can', because the price of it is not a concern," he explained.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
Several in the private teaching field who share similar doubts.
An education leader, head and founder of a tutoring service, who provides individual instructors, wrote that "the development of embracing two identities, or in fact, forming one's identity, is something that must be experienced personally, not engineered."
He explained that he had emigrated from China to the Britain at the age of seven, and had been brought up knowing and living dual heritages. He progressed to study at Cambridge University.
"The notion that a single person can act as a living vessel of UK identity, someone who can possibly transplant the characteristics of a British gentleman upon a one-year-old child, strikes me as optimistic and unfeasible," he wrote.
"In my experience, having a typically British tutor from early childhood will not automatically create the result they desire.
"I did not have that kind of mentor, and nevertheless I have been fortunate enough to enjoy numerous of the opportunities they desire for their son."
He stated: "The reality is, cultural identity cannot be forced from the outside influences; it must be chosen, and it must come from within."
Acquiring Englishness
Naturally, UK identity is something the expert believes can be instructed – and commercialized.
"I think the situation that the international society holds us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
