"A family residing in North London is looking for an extraordinary and experienced tutor to support their smallest child on his first steps to turning into an English gentleman."
Upon seeing this advertisement, you might naturally overlook the phrase "first-steps" as mere figurative language.
However, it might be the most significant aspect of this distinctive employment listing, as it aims to hire a mentor for a one-year-old.
Hundreds of submissions have already been sent in since the unnamed family advertised their search for the £180,000 per year tutor, who has to be "an exceptional individual".
Over the last few weeks, the listing has attracted notice throughout the press, with many wondering why?
Forward-Thinking Method
The CEO, head and founder of Tutors International, which is assisting the family in their search, said that in spite of early skepticism, he viewed the idea "far sighted", and "progressive".
When he spoke with the family, he mentioned they appreciated the atypical aspect of their demand, and how young their son is.
But, they clarified that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had waited until their elder sibling was five, and by that age "cultural conditioning had by then taken hold".
What exactly did the family indicate by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "comprehensive", Adam answered. "The manner you eat, the way you speak".
He stated the elder child had picked up "really subtle, body language" from the family, and had assumed their cultural habits. The family informed him they wished to avoid the same situation to recur with their new baby.
The strategy: To hire a British tutor, who must speak with Received Pronunciation, to shape the baby from day one.
Osmotic Learning
"A great deal of the learning at the beginning here is rather absorbed naturally," stated the expert.
It's through this osmosis that the family are expecting the child will adopt the English characteristics they wish to impart.
He explained the tutor had to be an individual who studied at "prestigious academies – comparable categories of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The tutor must be the suitable individual, they'll be carrying out things they may not realize they're doing, just naturally," he added.
Expense Not a Factor
The family explained to Adam the selected educator should ideally also have understanding of or passion in riding, winter sports, the arts and music so as to shape the child in a diverse set of passions.
Furthermore though, he said the family hoped the tutor to sign up the child on a variety of classes so the child would be "pony-riding and picking up an tool by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's view, helping their son become a "UK sophisticate" will result in achievement and create opportunities.
"Taking into account the pros and cons of that, because it's certainly a class statement," he adds.
Yet, notwithstanding all this instruction in "UK identity", could the child adopt alleged cultural bias from the international family he resides with anyway?
"Certainly", replied the CEO. "The family understand this might not succeed, but they've just taken the attitude of, 'let's give it a go and we'll proceed as early as we can', because the price of it is not relevant," he said.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
A number of in the education sector who share those doubts.
Peter Cui, CEO and founder of Blue Education, who provides private tutors, stated that "the journey of becoming bicultural, or in fact, forming one's identity, is something that must be grown into, not manufactured."
Peter wrote that he had emigrated from the Far East to the Britain at the time of childhood, and had been brought up understanding and practicing both cultures. He continued to learn at the University of Cambridge.
"The idea that a single person can function as a embodiment of Britishness, a person who can in some way transfer the attributes of a English gentleman upon a 12-month-old child, strikes me as naive and unrealistic," he commented.
"In my experience, employing a typically UK tutor from infancy will not necessarily create the result they want.
"I wasn't provided with such a tutor, and nevertheless I have been privileged enough to live several of the opportunities they aspire for their son."
He stated: "The fact is, self-identity should not be forced from the outside influences; it must be selected, and it must originate internally."
Purchasing UK Culture
Certainly, English culture is something the expert hopes can be taught – and marketed.
"In my view the reality that the international society views us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
