"A household located in north London wants to find an remarkable and skilled educator to support their most junior child on his first steps to becoming an English gentleman."
When reading this advertisement, you might naturally miss the wording "first-steps" as simple a turn of phrase.
However, it may be the most important part of this unusual job advert, as it aims to find a mentor for a infant.
Hundreds of submissions have now been submitted since the anonymous family published their request for the £180k-a-year tutor, who must be "a uniquely qualified person".
Over the last few weeks, the post has gained notice in the news, with numerous asking why?
Progressive Approach
A tutoring expert, head and founder of an education consultancy, which is helping the family in their search, explained that notwithstanding initial scepticism, he considered the plan "forward-looking", and "advanced".
When he spoke with the family, he said they understood the unusual character of their requirement, and how young their son is.
But, they clarified that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had held off until their firstborn was five, and by that point "cultural influence had already become established".
What exactly did the family indicate by "cultural leaning"?
It's "everything", Adam answered. "How you eat, the manner you speak".
He stated the firstborn had picked up "really subtle, body language" from the family, and had assumed their cultural norms. The family explained to him they wished to avoid this pattern to happen again with their new baby.
The plan: To hire a UK tutor, who needs to speak with standard English accent, to guide the baby right from the beginning.
Osmotic Learning
"Much of the learning at the outset here is rather osmotic," explained the CEO.
It's through this subtle influence that the family are expecting the child will pick up the UK customs they aim to instil.
The consultant said the tutor must be an individual who studied at "prestigious academies – similar types of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The tutor must be the appropriate candidate, they'll be doing things they aren't even aware they're doing, effortlessly," he added.
Cost Not Relevant
The family explained to him the successful candidate should ideally also have understanding of or passion in equestrian activities, winter sports, artistic pursuits and music so as to influence the child in a wide range of hobbies.
More than that though, he explained the family wanted the tutor to sign up the child on a selection of lessons so the child would be "horseback riding and learning an musical instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's view, assisting their son grow into a "UK sophisticate" will result in accomplishment and create opportunities.
"For all the pros and cons of that, because it's undoubtedly a status symbol," he comments.
But, despite all this instruction in "Britishness", might the child pick up what is termed cultural influence from the international family he is raised by regardless?
"Certainly", said Adam. "The family realize this may not work, but they've simply adopted the perspective of, 'we should try and we should start as quickly as we can', because the expense of it is not a concern," he stated.
Overly Optimistic
There are some in the education sector who have those reservations.
Another CEO, head and founder of Blue Education, who also offer private tutors, stated that "the process of adopting dual cultures, or actually, becoming oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not designed."
He noted that he had relocated from China to the UK at the age of 7 years old, and had been brought up understanding and embodying two backgrounds. He went on to study at a prestigious UK institution.
"The concept that a single person can serve as a representation of UK identity, an individual who can in some way transfer the characteristics of a UK sophisticate upon a one-year-old child, strikes me as optimistic and unfeasible," he wrote.
"From my perspective, having a typically UK tutor from early childhood will does not automatically produce the outcome they hope for.
"I never had that kind of mentor, and yet I have been fortunate enough to live numerous of the situations they desire for their son."
He continued: "The fact is, self-identity cannot be forced from the external environment; it must be embraced, and it must be internally driven."
Purchasing UK Culture
Naturally, English culture is something the CEO believes can be instructed – and commercialized.
"In my view the reality that the international society holds us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
