"A family located in the northern part of London is looking for an remarkable and qualified tutor to guide their smallest child on his first steps to turning into an English gentleman."
Looking at this post, you might naturally skip the wording "first-steps" as mere figurative language.
However, it may be the crucial part of this unique employment listing, as it seeks to find a tutor for a infant.
Hundreds of applications have now been received since the anonymous family posted their call for the highly paid tutor, who has to be "someone very special".
During the past few weeks, the post has received notice throughout the news, with many asking why?
Progressive Approach
Adam Caller, CEO and founder of an education consultancy, which is supporting the family in their quest, said that in spite of first skepticism, he viewed the concept "far sighted", and "innovative".
When he met the family, he mentioned they recognized the unusual aspect of their requirement, and how early in age their son is.
Nevertheless, they stated that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had held off until their older child was five, and by that stage "cultural bias had by then taken hold".
What exactly did the family indicate by "cultural bias"?
It's "comprehensive", the expert responded. "The manner you eat, the manner you speak".
He said the elder child had adopted "very nuanced, body language" from the family, and had assumed their cultural ways. The family told Adam they did not want the same situation to repeat itself with their new baby.
The intention: To bring in a British tutor, who needs to speak with standard English accent, to guide the baby right from the beginning.
Natural Absorption
"A great deal of the development at the beginning here is kind of acquired indirectly," explained the CEO.
It's via this natural absorption that the family are hoping the child will pick up the UK customs they wish to instil.
Adam explained the tutor needed to be somebody who studied at "the right kinds of schools – the same kinds of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The instructor just has to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be performing things they may not realize they're doing, effortlessly," he added.
Expense Not a Factor
The family informed the expert the selected educator should preferably also have knowledge of or enthusiasm in riding, alpine skiing, artistic pursuits and musical activities so as to inspire the child in a diverse set of passions.
Additionally though, he explained the family hoped the tutor to register the child on a range of classes so the child would be "horseback riding and picking up an instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's view, guiding their son grow into a "British gentleman" will result in accomplishment and create opportunities.
"For all the rights and wrongs of that, because it's undoubtedly a social class indicator," he notes.
However, in spite of all this instruction in "Britishness", would the child absorb so-called cultural bias from the multicultural family he is raised by in any case?
"Yes", answered he. "The family realize this may not work, but they've just taken the view of, 'let's give it a go and we should start as soon as we can', because the cost of it is not relevant," he stated.
Overly Optimistic
Several in the education sector who have similar reservations.
Another CEO, head and founder of Blue Education, who also offer personal educators, commented that "the journey of becoming bicultural, or in fact, becoming oneself, is something that must be grown into, not manufactured."
The expert noted that he had relocated from the Far East to the United Kingdom at the time of seven, and had been raised knowing and living two backgrounds. He progressed to learn at Cambridge University.
"The concept that a single person can function as a embodiment of Britishness, a person who can in some way transplant the characteristics of a British gentleman to a 12-month-old child, seems to me optimistic and impractical," he stated.
"From my perspective, engaging a quintessentially British tutor from early childhood will does not instantly achieve the outcome they want.
"I wasn't provided with that kind of mentor, and yet I have been privileged enough to live several of the opportunities they desire for their son."
He added: "The reality is, self-identity can not be imposed from the outside; it must be embraced, and it must be internally driven."
Buying Britishness
Certainly, UK identity is something Adam believes can be instructed – and commercialized.
"I believe the reality that the world regards us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
