"Parents located in North London wants to find an exceptional and qualified tutor to guide their most junior child on his first steps to growing into an British gentleman."
Upon seeing this listing, you might easily miss the wording "first-steps" as simple an expression.
However, it may be the most important aspect of this unusual employment listing, as it seeks to recruit a teacher for a 12-month-old.
Many of responses have since been sent in since the unidentified family advertised their search for the highly paid tutor, who must be "a uniquely qualified person".
In recent few weeks, the advert has gained interest across the press, with many questioning why?
Forward-Thinking Method
Adam Caller, head and founder of Tutors International, which is helping the family in their search, stated that in spite of initial skepticism, he considered the idea "forward-looking", and "progressive".
When he consulted the family, he noted they appreciated the unusual nature of their requirement, and how early in age their son is.
However, they explained 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 point "cultural influence had by then set in".
What precisely does the family indicate by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "all-encompassing", he answered. "The way you eat, how you speak".
He said the elder child had absorbed "extremely delicate, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had taken on their cultural habits. The family told the consultant they did not want this pattern to repeat itself with their new baby.
The strategy: To bring in a UK tutor, who should speak with RP, to shape the baby from the very start.
Natural Absorption
"A great deal of the learning at the beginning here is kind of osmotic," said Adam.
It's via this osmosis that the family are hoping the child will adopt the UK customs they want to cultivate.
He noted the tutor needed to be an individual who attended "the appropriate educational institutions – comparable categories of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The tutor just has to be the right kind of person, they'll be performing things they aren't even aware they're doing, simply by nature," he commented.
Cost Not Relevant
The family explained to Adam the chosen tutor should ideally also have familiarity of or passion in horse riding, winter sports, the arts and music so as to shape the child in a diverse set of passions.
More than that though, he explained the family desired the tutor to enrol the child on a selection of classes so the child would be "pony-riding and learning an tool by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's perspective, guiding their son develop into a "British gentleman" will lead to success and provide access.
"Taking into account the pros and cons of that, because it's undoubtedly a social class indicator," he comments.
Yet, notwithstanding all this tutelage in "English culture", might the child adopt alleged cultural influence from the international family he lives with anyway?
"Absolutely", said he. "The family understand this could fail, but they've merely embraced the view of, 'let's give it a go and we'll proceed as soon as we can', because the price of it is not a concern," he stated.
Overly Optimistic
There are some in the private teaching field who express those concerns.
An education leader, CEO and founder of a tutoring service, who also offer personal educators, commented that "the process of adopting dual cultures, or actually, discovering oneself, is something that must be lived into, not designed."
Peter explained that he had relocated from China to the UK at the age of seven, and had been raised experiencing and embodying dual heritages. He continued to learn at Cambridge University.
"The concept that a single person can function as a living vessel of Britishness, a person who can in some way transplant the qualities of a British gentleman to a infant child, seems to me optimistic and unfeasible," he commented.
"In my experience, having a typically British tutor from babyhood will not necessarily produce the goal they desire.
"I wasn't provided with that kind of mentor, and yet I have been fortunate enough to experience several of the opportunities they desire for their son."
He stated: "The fact is, cultural identity can not be imposed from the outside; it must be chosen, and it must originate internally."
Purchasing UK Culture
Of course, English culture is something the expert thinks can be educated – and sold.
"I think the reality that the world views us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
