"Parents residing in the northern part of London is looking for an extraordinary and experienced tutor to assist their youngest child on his first steps to turning into an English gentleman."
When reading this advertisement, you might readily skip the phrase "first-steps" as mere a turn of phrase.
But, it may be the most significant aspect of this unusual position posting, as it seeks to recruit a teacher for a infant.
Many of applications have already been submitted since the anonymous family advertised their search for the £180k-a-year tutor, who has to be "a uniquely qualified person".
In recent few weeks, the listing has received interest across the press, with many asking why?
Progressive Approach
The CEO, head and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is assisting the family in their search, said that in spite of early scepticism, he considered the plan "visionary", and "progressive".
When he spoke with the family, he mentioned they understood the unusual aspect of their request, and how early in age their son is.
Nevertheless, they explained that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had held off until their elder sibling was five, and by that point "cultural bias had by then set in".
But what does the family refer to by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "everything", Adam answered. "The way you eat, the way you speak".
He explained the older sibling had adopted "really subtle, unspoken signals" from the family, and had taken on their cultural ways. The family informed the consultant they did not want this pattern to repeat itself with their infant.
The plan: To hire a English tutor, who must speak with standard English accent, to shape the baby from the very start.
Natural Absorption
"A lot of the development at the beginning here is rather acquired indirectly," said the CEO.
It's by means of this osmosis that the family are hoping the child will acquire the English characteristics they wish to impart.
The consultant said the tutor needed to be somebody who went to "the right kinds of schools – comparable categories of schools as the family hope 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, just naturally," he commented.
Expense Not a Factor
The family informed the expert the selected educator should ideally also have knowledge of or passion in equestrian activities, winter sports, the arts and musical activities so as to influence the child in a diverse set of interests.
Furthermore though, he stated the family desired the tutor to enrol the child on a range of lessons so the child would be "horseback riding and starting an instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's view, assisting their son become a "UK sophisticate" will result in accomplishment and create opportunities.
"Taking into account the rights and wrongs of that, because it's undoubtedly a class statement," he notes.
However, in spite of all this guidance in "UK identity", would the child absorb so-called cultural bias from the multicultural family he is raised by regardless?
"Yes", answered the CEO. "They realize this might not succeed, but they've merely embraced the perspective of, 'let's give it a go and we should start as quickly as we can', because the expense of it is not relevant," he explained.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
There are some in the education sector who express similar doubts.
An education leader, CEO and founder of an educational organization, who also offer personal educators, commented that "the process of embracing two identities, or actually, becoming oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not manufactured."
He wrote that he had emigrated from Asia to the UK at the age of 7 years old, and had been educated understanding and embodying both cultures. He continued to study at Cambridge University.
"The idea that a single person can serve as a living vessel of Britishness, a person who can possibly transfer the characteristics of a English gentleman onto a infant child, strikes me as idealistic and impractical," he stated.
"Based on my background, engaging a typically British tutor from infancy will will not necessarily create the outcome they want.
"I did not have such a figure, and yet I have been fortunate enough to live many of the situations they aspire for their son."
He stated: "The truth is, self-identity should not be imposed from the external environment; it must be embraced, and it must originate internally."
Purchasing UK Culture
Certainly, Britishness is something Adam hopes can be educated – and sold.
"I believe the fact that the international society views us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
