"A family located in the northern part of London wants to find an extraordinary and qualified instructor to support their smallest child on his first steps to becoming an English gentleman."
Looking at this post, you might readily miss the phrase "first-steps" as mere figurative language.
Yet, it could be the most important part of this unusual employment listing, as it seeks to hire a mentor for a 12-month-old.
Numerous of responses have already been sent in since the anonymous family advertised their call for the £180,000 per year tutor, who must be "a uniquely qualified person".
In recent few weeks, the post has attracted notice throughout the news, with numerous questioning why?
Progressive Approach
Adam Caller, head and founder of Tutors International, which is helping the family in their quest, stated that notwithstanding early scepticism, he found the concept "forward-looking", and "innovative".
When he consulted the family, he noted they recognized the unusual character of their request, and how young their son is.
But, they clarified that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had postponed until their older child was five, and by that age "cultural conditioning had already taken hold".
But what did the family refer to by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "everything", Adam answered. "How you eat, the manner you speak".
He explained the firstborn had adopted "very nuanced, unspoken signals" from the family, and had assumed their cultural ways. The family explained to him they did not want this pattern to recur with their younger child.
The plan: To hire a British tutor, who should speak with standard English accent, to shape the baby from the very start.
Natural Absorption
"A lot of the learning at the start here is kind of osmotic," explained the CEO.
It's through this osmosis that the family are hoping the child will adopt the British traits they want to instil.
The consultant explained the tutor needed to be an individual who attended "the right kinds of schools – similar types of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The educator must be the suitable individual, they'll be doing things they may not realize they're doing, simply by nature," he added.
Expense Not a Factor
The family told him the successful candidate should preferably also have knowledge of or enthusiasm in horse riding, winter sports, the arts and music so as to inspire the child in a wide range of interests.
More than that though, he said the family wanted the tutor to enrol the child on a variety of courses so the child would be "horseback riding and starting an tool by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's minds, assisting their son develop into a "English gentleman" will lead to achievement and open doors.
"Considering the rights and wrongs of that, because it's undoubtedly a social class indicator," he adds.
But, in spite of all this guidance in "Britishness", might the child adopt alleged cultural influence from the globally influenced family he resides with regardless?
"Certainly", replied the CEO. "The parents understand this could fail, but they've just taken the perspective 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 said.
Overly Optimistic
Several in the education sector who express these doubts.
Another CEO, head and founder of an educational organization, who supplies individual instructors, commented that "the journey of adopting dual cultures, or actually, becoming oneself, is something that must be lived into, not engineered."
He noted that he had relocated from Asia to the United Kingdom at the time of 7 years old, and had been brought up experiencing and living both cultures. He went on to be educated at Cambridge University.
"The notion that a single person can function as a embodiment of Britishness, an individual who can in some way transplant the qualities of a British gentleman onto a 12-month-old child, strikes me as naive and impractical," he wrote.
"In my experience, employing a typically British tutor from infancy will not necessarily achieve the outcome they hope for.
"I did not have such a tutor, and however I have been privileged enough to live numerous of the opportunities they aspire for their son."
He stated: "The reality is, self-identity should not be imposed from the external environment; it must be embraced, and it must come from within."
Acquiring Englishness
Of course, Britishness is something Adam hopes can be educated – and sold.
"In my view the reality that the international society regards us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
