"A household based in north London seeks an extraordinary and qualified educator to guide their smallest child on his first steps to becoming an English gentleman."
When reading this post, you might readily overlook the phrase "first-steps" as mere a turn of phrase.
But, it could be the most important element of this unique employment listing, as it seeks to hire a teacher for a one-year-old.
Many of applications have now been submitted since the anonymous family published their search for the £180k-a-year tutor, who needs to be "an exceptional individual".
During the past few weeks, the post has attracted interest across the media, with many wondering why?
Progressive Approach
Adam Caller, CEO and founder of an education consultancy, which is helping the family in their quest, stated that in spite of early scepticism, he considered the concept "far sighted", and "advanced".
When he met the family, he mentioned they recognized the unusual nature of their demand, and how early in age their son is.
However, they explained that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had held off until their firstborn was five, and by that point "cultural influence had already set in".
What exactly does the family mean by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "everything", the expert answered. "The way you eat, the manner you speak".
He explained the older sibling had absorbed "extremely delicate, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had assumed their cultural norms. The family explained to the consultant they hoped to prevent this pattern to happen again with their new baby.
The intention: To bring in a English tutor, who needs to speak with Received Pronunciation, to influence the baby from the very start.
Osmotic Learning
"Much of the education at the start here is rather absorbed naturally," said the expert.
It's via this subtle influence that the family are expecting the child will acquire the English characteristics they aim to cultivate.
He said the tutor needed to be an individual who went to "prestigious academies – similar types of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The educator simply needs to be the right kind of person, they'll be performing things they don't even know they're doing, effortlessly," he said.
Money No Object
The family informed Adam the chosen tutor should ideally also have understanding of or passion in equestrian activities, skiing, artistic pursuits and instrumental training so as to shape the child in a wide range of interests.
Furthermore though, he explained the family hoped the tutor to enrol the child on a range of lessons so the child would be "horseback riding and learning an instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's view, guiding their son develop into a "British gentleman" will bring about accomplishment and open doors.
"Taking into account the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's definitely a social class indicator," he adds.
But, in spite of all this tutelage in "English culture", could the child pick up what is termed cultural leaning from the globally influenced family he resides with anyway?
"Certainly", said the CEO. "The parents know this may not work, but they've just taken the perspective of, 'we should try and we should start as quickly as we can', because the expense of it is not relevant," he stated.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
A number of in the education sector who express these concerns.
Another CEO, CEO and founder of Blue Education, who provides personal educators, commented that "the journey of becoming bicultural, or actually, becoming oneself, is something that must be grown into, not engineered."
He noted that he had emigrated from Asia to the United Kingdom at the period of seven, and had been raised understanding and living two backgrounds. He continued to learn at the University of Cambridge.
"The idea that an individual can act as a representation of English culture, an individual who can possibly transplant the characteristics of a UK sophisticate upon a one-year-old child, seems to me idealistic and unrealistic," he commented.
"In my experience, having a typically English tutor from babyhood will will not necessarily achieve the outcome they desire.
"I wasn't provided with that kind of mentor, and yet I have been lucky enough to experience several of the situations they desire for their son."
He added: "The fact is, cultural identity should not be forced from the outside influences; it must be embraced, and it must come from within."
Purchasing UK Culture
Of course, English culture is something the CEO believes can be educated – and marketed.
"I think the reality that the international society holds us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
