"Parents residing in the northern part of London wants to find an extraordinary and skilled educator to support their youngest child on his first steps to growing into an British gentleman."
When reading this post, you might easily overlook the term "first-steps" as simple a turn of phrase.
Yet, it may be the most significant aspect of this unusual position posting, as it aims to hire a mentor for a 12-month-old.
Many of responses have already been submitted since the unidentified family posted their call for the £180,000 per year tutor, who needs to be "someone very special".
During the past few weeks, the post has gained attention throughout the press, with several questioning why?
Forward-Thinking Method
A tutoring expert, head and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is supporting the family in their hunt, stated that notwithstanding initial skepticism, he found the idea "far sighted", and "innovative".
When he consulted the family, he said they appreciated the atypical nature of their demand, and how young their son is.
However, they clarified that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had held off until their elder sibling was five, and by that point "cultural influence had by then taken hold".
What precisely does the family indicate by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "all-encompassing", Adam answered. "How you eat, the way you speak".
He stated the elder child had picked up "extremely delicate, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had taken on their cultural habits. The family informed him they wished to avoid the same situation to recur with their new baby.
The strategy: To engage a UK tutor, who must speak with standard English accent, to shape the baby from the very start.
Subtle Influence
"A lot of the education at the beginning here is rather absorbed naturally," said Adam.
It's through this subtle influence that the family are expecting the child will adopt the British traits they aim to cultivate.
He noted the tutor needed to be someone who went to "the appropriate educational institutions – the same kinds of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The instructor just has to be the right kind of person, they'll be doing things they aren't even aware they're doing, simply by nature," he commented.
Cost Not Relevant
The family informed him the chosen tutor should ideally also have knowledge of or enthusiasm in horse riding, alpine skiing, artistic pursuits and music so as to shape the child in a diverse set of passions.
More than that though, he explained the family hoped the tutor to enrol the child on a variety of courses so the child would be "horseback riding and starting an musical instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's view, guiding their son grow into a "British gentleman" will bring about accomplishment and create opportunities.
"Considering the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's undoubtedly a social class indicator," he adds.
But, in spite of all this tutelage in "English culture", could the child adopt so-called cultural influence from the multicultural family he resides with in any case?
"Certainly", said Adam. "They realize this could fail, but they've just taken the perspective of, 'why not attempt it and let's go as quickly as we can', because the cost of it is not relevant," he said.
Impractical
Several in the education sector who have similar concerns.
An education leader, head and founder of Blue Education, who also offer individual instructors, commented that "the development of adopting dual cultures, or in fact, discovering oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not designed."
The expert explained that he had relocated from Asia to the United Kingdom at the time of 7 years old, and had been educated understanding and embodying two backgrounds. He went on to be educated at the University of Cambridge.
"The notion that an individual can function as a living vessel of English culture, someone who can somehow transfer the qualities of a English gentleman upon a 12-month-old child, strikes me as idealistic and impractical," he wrote.
"In my experience, employing a distinctly British tutor from babyhood will will not instantly create the result they want.
"I wasn't provided with such a tutor, and however I have been fortunate enough to experience several of the situations they desire for their son."
He continued: "The fact is, personal identity cannot be forced from the outside influences; it must be chosen, and it must come from within."
Buying Britishness
Certainly, English culture is something the CEO thinks can be instructed – and marketed.
"I think the reality that the world regards us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
