"A household located in north London seeks an exceptional and skilled educator to support their smallest child on his first steps to turning into an British gentleman."
When reading this post, you might easily overlook the wording "first-steps" as simple a turn of phrase.
However, it may be the crucial aspect of this unusual position posting, as it seeks to find a mentor for a 12-month-old.
Numerous of submissions have now been submitted since the unidentified family advertised their call for the highly paid tutor, who must be "a uniquely qualified person".
Over the last few weeks, the listing has gained notice across the media, with several questioning why?
Innovative Idea
A tutoring expert, head and founder of an education consultancy, which is supporting the family in their search, said that in spite of initial skepticism, he viewed the concept "visionary", and "advanced".
When he met the family, he said they appreciated the unconventional character of their request, and how early in age their son is.
Nevertheless, they clarified that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to get a tutor, as they had held off until their firstborn was five, and by that stage "cultural bias had already set in".
What precisely did the family mean by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "all-encompassing", the expert replied. "The manner you eat, the manner you speak".
He stated the older sibling had picked up "very nuanced, unspoken signals" from the family, and had taken on their cultural ways. The family told Adam they wished to avoid this pattern to repeat itself with their infant.
The strategy: To hire a UK tutor, who should speak with Received Pronunciation, to influence the baby right from the beginning.
Subtle Influence
"A lot of the education at the beginning here is rather osmotic," explained Adam.
It's through this natural absorption that the family are aiming the child will acquire the British traits they wish to cultivate.
The consultant said the tutor had to be someone who attended "the right kinds of schools – similar types of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The educator must be the appropriate candidate, they'll be doing things they aren't even aware they're doing, just naturally," he added.
Expense Not a Factor
The family explained to the expert the successful candidate should ideally also have familiarity of or interest in riding, skiing, artistic pursuits and musical activities so as to influence the child in a wide range of passions.
More than that though, he explained the family desired the tutor to register the child on a selection of classes so the child would be "horseback riding and learning an musical instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's perspective, assisting their son become a "British gentleman" will result in accomplishment and open doors.
"Considering the rights and wrongs of that, because it's definitely a social class indicator," he adds.
However, notwithstanding all this instruction in "Britishness", could the child absorb what is termed cultural bias from the multicultural family he lives with regardless?
"Yes", answered he. "The parents know this could fail, but they've merely embraced the view of, 'why not attempt it and we should start as early as we can', because the price of it is irrelevant," he said.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
Several in the tutoring industry who express these concerns.
Another CEO, head and founder of a tutoring service, who also offer personal educators, stated that "the journey of becoming bicultural, or in fact, becoming oneself, is something that must be lived into, not engineered."
He noted that he had relocated from China to the Britain at the time of 7 years old, and had been educated experiencing and practicing two backgrounds. He continued to be educated at a prestigious UK institution.
"The notion that an individual can function as a living vessel of English culture, a person who can somehow transfer the characteristics of a UK sophisticate upon a infant child, appears optimistic and unrealistic," he commented.
"Based on my background, engaging a distinctly English tutor from infancy will will not automatically create the outcome they desire.
"I wasn't provided with such a figure, and however I have been privileged enough to experience numerous of the experiences they hope for their son."
He added: "The fact is, self-identity can not be imposed from the outside influences; it must be selected, and it must be internally driven."
Purchasing UK Culture
Certainly, English culture is something Adam thinks can be educated – and commercialized.
"In my view the reality that the world holds us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
