"A family based in north London wants to find an remarkable and skilled educator to assist their smallest child on his first steps to becoming an British gentleman."
Upon seeing this listing, you might easily overlook the wording "first-steps" as mere a turn of phrase.
Yet, it might be the most important aspect of this distinctive job advert, as it seeks to hire a mentor for a 12-month-old.
Many of submissions have already been sent in since the unidentified family published their call for the £180k-a-year tutor, who has to be "someone very special".
In recent few weeks, the listing has gained notice throughout the press, with many wondering why?
Innovative Idea
Adam Caller, CEO and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is helping the family in their search, explained that in spite of initial skepticism, he found the plan "visionary", and "innovative".
When he spoke with the family, he noted they recognized the unusual nature of their requirement, and how immature their son is.
Nevertheless, they explained that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had postponed until their elder sibling was five, and by that age "cultural conditioning had by then set in".
What precisely did the family indicate by "cultural bias"?
It's "everything", Adam responded. "The manner you eat, how you speak".
He explained the elder child had adopted "very nuanced, unspoken signals" from the family, and had assumed their cultural habits. The family told Adam they wished to avoid the same situation to recur with their younger child.
The intention: To engage a English tutor, who should speak with RP, to influence the baby from day one.
Osmotic Learning
"A lot of the education at the outset here is somewhat absorbed naturally," said the CEO.
It's via this subtle influence that the family are expecting the child will adopt the British traits they aim to cultivate.
Adam explained the tutor had to be an individual who went to "prestigious academies – comparable categories of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The instructor must be the suitable individual, they'll be performing things they may not realize they're doing, just naturally," he commented.
Expense Not a Factor
The family informed Adam the selected educator should ideally also have familiarity of or enthusiasm in equestrian activities, winter sports, creative fields and music so as to shape the child in a broad spectrum of passions.
Additionally though, he explained the family wanted the tutor to register the child on a selection of classes so the child would be "equestrian training and starting an musical instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's perspective, assisting their son develop into a "English gentleman" will result in success and create opportunities.
"Considering the rights and wrongs of that, because it's undoubtedly a status symbol," he notes.
Yet, notwithstanding all this tutelage in "English culture", would the child absorb so-called cultural bias from the international family he is raised by regardless?
"Absolutely", replied the CEO. "The family understand this might not succeed, but they've simply adopted the view of, 'we should try and let's go as soon as we can', because the price of it is not a concern," he explained.
Overly Optimistic
Several in the tutoring industry who share similar reservations.
Peter Cui, CEO and founder of a tutoring service, who provides private tutors, wrote that "the process of adopting dual cultures, or indeed, forming one's identity, is something that must be grown into, not engineered."
He explained that he had relocated from Asia to the United Kingdom at the time of seven, and had been brought up experiencing and embodying dual heritages. He went on to study at the University of Cambridge.
"The concept that a single person can act as a representation of English culture, someone who can somehow transplant the attributes of a English gentleman to a 12-month-old child, seems to me idealistic and unrealistic," he stated.
"In my experience, having a typically UK tutor from babyhood will not instantly produce the result they want.
"I did not have such a figure, and however I have been privileged enough to enjoy many of the situations they hope for their son."
He continued: "The reality is, self-identity should not be forced from the outside; it must be embraced, and it must originate internally."
Purchasing UK Culture
Naturally, UK identity is something the CEO thinks can be instructed – and commercialized.
"I believe the fact that the international society views us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
