"A family located in North London seeks an extraordinary and experienced educator to guide their most junior child on his first steps to becoming an British gentleman."
When reading this listing, you might easily miss the phrase "first-steps" as mere an expression.
Yet, it may be the crucial aspect of this unique employment listing, as it seeks to find a teacher for a 12-month-old.
Many of responses have now been sent in since the unnamed family advertised their call for the highly paid tutor, who must be "an exceptional individual".
Over the last few weeks, the listing has gained attention in the media, with several wondering why?
Innovative Idea
The CEO, chief executive of an education consultancy, which is helping the family in their quest, stated that notwithstanding early doubt, he found the concept "far sighted", and "progressive".
When he spoke with the family, he said they recognized the unconventional character of their demand, and how early in age their son is.
Nevertheless, they clarified that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had held off until their older child was five, and by that age "cultural conditioning had already become established".
What precisely does the family refer to by "cultural bias"?
It's "all-encompassing", he answered. "The way you eat, how you speak".
He said the older sibling had picked up "very nuanced, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had assumed their cultural norms. The family informed him they wished to avoid this pattern to recur with their younger child.
The plan: To bring in a British tutor, who should speak with standard English accent, to shape the baby from day one.
Osmotic Learning
"Much of the development at the outset here is somewhat osmotic," explained the expert.
It's via this osmosis that the family are expecting the child will adopt the British traits they want to impart.
The consultant noted the tutor must be someone who went to "prestigious academies – similar types of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The instructor must be the right kind of person, they'll be carrying out things they may not realize they're doing, simply by nature," he commented.
Money No Object
The family told Adam the chosen tutor should preferably also have familiarity of or interest in equestrian activities, winter sports, the arts and musical activities so as to influence the child in a broad spectrum of passions.
Furthermore though, he said the family hoped the tutor to register the child on a range of classes so the child would be "pony-riding and learning an instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's view, helping their son develop into a "UK sophisticate" will lead to accomplishment and provide access.
"Taking into account the pros and cons of that, because it's undoubtedly a class statement," he notes.
But, despite all this guidance in "UK identity", would the child absorb alleged cultural leaning from the multicultural family he lives with in any case?
"Yes", replied he. "They know this might not succeed, but they've simply adopted the view of, 'why not attempt it and we should start as quickly as we can', because the expense of it is not a concern," he said.
Impractical
Several in the tutoring industry who have those concerns.
An education leader, CEO and founder of Blue Education, who also offer private tutors, commented that "the process of embracing two identities, or in fact, forming one's identity, is something that must be grown into, not designed."
He wrote that he had relocated from Asia to the Britain at the age of seven, and had been brought up knowing and living two backgrounds. He went on to learn at Cambridge University.
"The notion that one individual can act as a embodiment of English culture, an individual who can possibly transfer the characteristics of a British gentleman to a 12-month-old child, seems to me naive and unrealistic," he stated.
"In my experience, employing a typically UK tutor from infancy will does not instantly produce the outcome they hope for.
"I did not have such a tutor, and yet I have been lucky enough to live several of the situations they hope for their son."
He added: "The fact is, self-identity can not be dictated from the outside influences; it must be embraced, and it must come from within."
Purchasing UK Culture
Certainly, UK identity is something Adam believes can be taught – and commercialized.
"I believe the situation that the world regards us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
