"A household located in north London wants to find an remarkable and qualified instructor to guide their most junior child on his first steps to becoming an English gentleman."
Looking at this listing, you might readily overlook the phrase "first-steps" as just an expression.
However, it might be the most significant aspect of this unusual position posting, as it attempts to find a mentor for a infant.
Many of responses have now been sent in since the unidentified family published their call for the £180k-a-year tutor, who needs to be "a uniquely qualified person".
During the past few weeks, the post has gained attention in the press, with many asking why?
Progressive Approach
Adam Caller, CEO and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is assisting the family in their hunt, said that in spite of early scepticism, he found the plan "visionary", and "advanced".
When he consulted the family, he noted they appreciated the unconventional aspect of their requirement, and how early in age their son is.
However, they stated that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had postponed until their firstborn was five, and by that age "cultural influence had already become established".
What precisely did the family indicate by "cultural bias"?
It's "everything", the expert answered. "How you eat, the way you speak".
He stated the firstborn had adopted "really subtle, unspoken signals" from the family, and had assumed their cultural habits. The family informed the consultant they did not want the same situation to happen again with their younger child.
The strategy: To bring in a UK tutor, who needs to speak with Received Pronunciation, to guide the baby right from the beginning.
Subtle Influence
"Much of the education at the outset here is kind of osmotic," stated the CEO.
It's via this osmosis that the family are aiming the child will acquire the UK customs they want to cultivate.
Adam said the tutor needed to be somebody who attended "prestigious academies – similar types of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The tutor must be the suitable individual, they'll be performing things they aren't even aware they're doing, simply by nature," he commented.
Expense Not a Factor
The family told Adam the successful candidate should preferably also have knowledge of or enthusiasm in riding, alpine skiing, artistic pursuits and music so as to shape the child in a wide range of hobbies.
Furthermore though, he explained the family hoped the tutor to register the child on a variety of courses so the child would be "horseback riding and starting an musical instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's perspective, guiding their son grow into a "UK sophisticate" will bring about accomplishment and create opportunities.
"Considering the pros and cons of that, because it's definitely a social class indicator," he notes.
However, notwithstanding all this instruction in "English culture", would the child adopt so-called cultural bias from the multicultural family he resides with anyway?
"Absolutely", replied Adam. "The parents know this may not work, but they've just taken the perspective of, 'let's give it a go and let's go as quickly as we can', because the cost of it is not relevant," he stated.
Impractical
Several in the education sector who share those concerns.
Peter Cui, head and founder of an educational organization, who also offer private tutors, stated that "the development of becoming bicultural, or in fact, discovering oneself, is something that must be grown into, not manufactured."
Peter noted that he had moved from Asia to the Britain at the time of childhood, and had been brought up experiencing and practicing both cultures. He continued to be educated at a prestigious UK institution.
"The idea that an individual can act as a living vessel of Britishness, someone who can in some way transfer the qualities of a UK sophisticate to a 12-month-old child, seems to me naive and unrealistic," he wrote.
"In my experience, engaging a quintessentially English tutor from early childhood will does not instantly achieve the goal they desire.
"I wasn't provided with such a tutor, and however I have been fortunate enough to enjoy several of the experiences they hope for their son."
He added: "The fact is, cultural identity cannot be imposed from the outside; it must be chosen, and it must be internally driven."
Acquiring Englishness
Naturally, Britishness is something the CEO thinks can be taught – and commercialized.
"In my view the fact that the global community views us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
