"A family residing in North London seeks an remarkable and qualified educator to assist their youngest child on his first steps to turning into an British gentleman."
Looking at this advertisement, you might readily overlook the phrase "first-steps" as just figurative language.
But, it might be the most important part of this unusual job advert, as it aims to hire a tutor for a one-year-old.
Many of submissions have now been sent in since the anonymous family advertised their search for the highly paid tutor, who needs to be "an exceptional individual".
In recent few weeks, the advert has attracted notice throughout the news, with numerous questioning why?
Forward-Thinking Method
Adam Caller, CEO and founder of an education consultancy, which is helping the family in their quest, stated that in spite of initial scepticism, he considered the plan "forward-looking", and "innovative".
When he met the family, he mentioned they recognized the unusual nature of their request, and how young their son is.
Nevertheless, they clarified that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to get a tutor, as they had waited until their elder sibling was five, and by that stage "cultural bias had already taken hold".
What precisely did the family refer to by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "comprehensive", he answered. "How you eat, how you speak".
He stated the firstborn had absorbed "really subtle, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had assumed their cultural norms. The family informed Adam they did not want history to repeat itself with their younger child.
The intention: To bring in a English tutor, who must speak with Received Pronunciation, to influence the baby from the very start.
Osmotic Learning
"Much of the development at the start here is somewhat absorbed naturally," stated Adam.
It's by means of this subtle influence that the family are hoping the child will pick up the British traits they wish to cultivate.
Adam explained the tutor must be someone who attended "prestigious academies – comparable categories of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The tutor must be the appropriate candidate, they'll be carrying out things they don't even know they're doing, just naturally," he said.
Expense Not a Factor
The family explained to Adam the successful candidate should ideally also have understanding of or enthusiasm in horse riding, winter sports, creative fields and musical activities so as to influence the child in a wide range of interests.
Additionally though, he stated the family wanted the tutor to sign up the child on a selection of classes so the child would be "horseback riding and picking up an musical instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's view, assisting their son develop into a "UK sophisticate" will lead to success and open doors.
"Considering the rights and wrongs of that, because it's certainly a social class indicator," he notes.
Yet, in spite of all this instruction in "UK identity", might the child pick up so-called cultural influence from the globally influenced family he is raised by anyway?
"Yes", said Adam. "The parents know this could fail, but they've just taken the view of, 'why not attempt it and we should start as early as we can', because the cost of it is not relevant," he stated.
Overly Optimistic
A number of in the education sector who share these doubts.
An education leader, chief executive of a tutoring service, who supplies individual instructors, commented that "the process of embracing two identities, or in fact, discovering oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not engineered."
The expert explained that he had relocated from China to the Britain at the time of seven, and had been educated understanding and practicing both cultures. He continued to be educated at a prestigious UK institution.
"The idea that an individual can act as a embodiment of UK identity, an individual who can somehow transplant the attributes of a British gentleman onto a one-year-old child, seems to me idealistic and unrealistic," he stated.
"From my perspective, employing a typically UK tutor from babyhood will not necessarily create the goal they want.
"I did not have that kind of mentor, and nevertheless I have been fortunate enough to experience many of the situations they desire for their son."
He added: "The fact is, personal identity should not be forced from the external environment; it must be selected, and it must come from within."
Purchasing UK Culture
Of course, Britishness is something Adam thinks can be educated – and commercialized.
"I think the fact that the world views us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
