"A household located in north London wants to find an exceptional and skilled educator to support their smallest child on his first steps to becoming an British gentleman."
When reading this advertisement, you might easily miss the phrase "first-steps" as just figurative language.
But, it may be the most important element of this distinctive job advert, as it aims to find a mentor for a one-year-old.
Many of submissions have already been submitted since the anonymous family posted their search for the highly paid tutor, who needs to be "someone very special".
In recent few weeks, the advert has gained notice throughout the press, with many wondering why?
Progressive Approach
A tutoring expert, head and founder of an education consultancy, which is supporting the family in their quest, stated that despite first scepticism, he considered the idea "far sighted", and "advanced".
When he consulted the family, he noted they appreciated the atypical nature of their request, and how early in age their son is.
Nevertheless, they stated that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had postponed until their firstborn was five, and by that stage "cultural conditioning had already become established".
But what does the family refer to by "cultural leaning"?
It's "comprehensive", he answered. "How you eat, the way you speak".
He stated the elder child had absorbed "really subtle, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had adopted their cultural ways. The family told him they wished to avoid the same situation to recur with their new baby.
The plan: To engage a British tutor, who should speak with RP, to shape the baby right from the beginning.
Subtle Influence
"A lot of the learning at the outset here is somewhat acquired indirectly," explained Adam.
It's by means of this osmosis that the family are aiming the child will adopt the British traits they want to instil.
Adam said the tutor needed to be someone who went to "the appropriate educational institutions – similar types of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The educator simply needs to be the right kind of person, they'll be doing things they may not realize they're doing, effortlessly," he added.
Expense Not a Factor
The family told the expert the selected educator should ideally also have knowledge of or passion in horse riding, skiing, artistic pursuits and musical activities so as to influence the child in a diverse set of hobbies.
Furthermore though, he stated the family desired the tutor to register the child on a range of courses 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 minds, helping their son develop into a "English gentleman" will bring about achievement and create opportunities.
"Taking into account the pros and cons of that, because it's undoubtedly a status symbol," he comments.
But, in spite of all this guidance in "English culture", would the child pick up so-called cultural leaning from the multicultural family he resides with anyway?
"Absolutely", replied Adam. "The family understand this may not work, but they've merely embraced the attitude of, 'why not attempt it and we'll proceed as early as we can', because the expense of it is not relevant," he explained.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
Several in the education sector who express similar concerns.
An education leader, chief executive of an educational organization, who supplies personal educators, wrote that "the development of becoming bicultural, or actually, becoming oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not manufactured."
Peter explained that he had emigrated from Asia to the Britain at the age of childhood, and had been brought up experiencing and living two backgrounds. He went on to study at a prestigious UK institution.
"The concept that a single person can serve as a representation of Britishness, an individual who can in some way transplant the attributes of a British gentleman to a one-year-old child, appears naive and unfeasible," he stated.
"In my experience, employing a quintessentially English tutor from early childhood will will not instantly create the outcome they hope for.
"I wasn't provided with that kind of mentor, and nevertheless I have been privileged enough to experience numerous of the experiences they desire for their son."
He continued: "The reality is, cultural identity should not be forced from the outside influences; it must be chosen, and it must come from within."
Acquiring Englishness
Naturally, Britishness is something the expert thinks can be educated – and marketed.
"In my view the fact that the global community holds us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
