"A family located in the northern part of London is looking for an extraordinary and qualified instructor to assist their smallest child on his first steps to growing into an English gentleman."
Looking at this advertisement, you might readily miss the phrase "first-steps" as just an expression.
Yet, it might be the crucial part of this unique position posting, as it aims to recruit a teacher for a one-year-old.
Many of responses have already been sent in since the unnamed family posted their search for the £180k-a-year tutor, who must be "someone very special".
In recent few weeks, the post has received interest across the press, with several wondering why?
Innovative Idea
A tutoring expert, head and founder of Tutors International, which is helping the family in their hunt, said that despite first scepticism, he viewed the concept "far sighted", and "advanced".
When he consulted the family, he said they understood the atypical aspect of their request, and how young their son is.
However, they stated that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had waited until their firstborn was five, and by that stage "cultural bias had already taken hold".
What exactly does the family refer to by "cultural bias"?
It's "comprehensive", he replied. "How you eat, how you speak".
He stated the elder child had picked up "extremely delicate, body language" from the family, and had assumed their cultural habits. The family explained to him they did not want history to recur with their younger child.
The plan: To bring in a UK tutor, who should speak with RP, to shape the baby from day one.
Subtle Influence
"A great deal of the development at the outset here is rather absorbed naturally," said the expert.
It's by means of this osmosis that the family are aiming the child will adopt the UK customs they aim to instil.
He explained the tutor must be an individual who attended "the appropriate educational institutions – similar types of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The educator simply needs to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be performing things they may not realize they're doing, simply by nature," he said.
Cost Not Relevant
The family informed the expert the selected educator should preferably also have understanding of or enthusiasm in equestrian activities, winter sports, the arts and musical activities so as to influence the child in a diverse set of interests.
Additionally though, he explained the family wanted the tutor to register the child on a selection of classes so the child would be "horseback riding and starting an instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's perspective, assisting their son develop into a "British gentleman" will bring about accomplishment and open doors.
"For all the pros and cons of that, because it's undoubtedly a class statement," he notes.
Yet, in spite of all this guidance in "Britishness", could the child pick up what is termed cultural influence from the multicultural family he is raised by anyway?
"Certainly", said Adam. "The parents know this might not succeed, but they've merely embraced the attitude of, 'why not attempt it and let's go as early as we can', because the cost of it is not a concern," he said.
Overly Optimistic
There are some in the tutoring industry who express similar reservations.
Peter Cui, chief executive of Blue Education, who also offer private tutors, stated that "the journey of adopting dual cultures, or in fact, forming one's identity, is something that must be experienced personally, not engineered."
The expert wrote that he had emigrated from China to the United Kingdom at the time of childhood, and had been brought up knowing and practicing both cultures. He continued to be educated at Cambridge University.
"The notion that one individual can act as a representation of UK identity, an individual who can possibly impart the qualities of a British gentleman upon a 12-month-old child, seems to me naive and impractical," he stated.
"From my perspective, employing a quintessentially English tutor from babyhood will not instantly create the outcome they hope for.
"I wasn't provided with that kind of mentor, and yet I have been lucky enough to live numerous of the opportunities they hope for their son."
He stated: "The fact is, cultural identity can not be dictated from the outside influences; it must be selected, and it must come from within."
Purchasing UK Culture
Certainly, English culture is something the CEO believes can be instructed – and commercialized.
"I think the reality that the international society holds us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
