"Parents residing in north London seeks an exceptional and skilled educator to support their youngest child on his first steps to growing into an British gentleman."
Upon seeing this advertisement, you might readily overlook the phrase "beginning" as simple an expression.
However, it might be the most important aspect of this unique job advert, as it seeks to hire a tutor for a infant.
Hundreds of applications have since been sent in since the anonymous family advertised their call for the £180k-a-year tutor, who needs to be "an exceptional individual".
Over the last few weeks, the advert has received interest across the press, with numerous questioning why?
Innovative Idea
A tutoring expert, chief executive of an education consultancy, which is supporting the family in their quest, explained that notwithstanding initial scepticism, he considered the idea "visionary", and "advanced".
When he consulted the family, he said they appreciated the atypical aspect of their request, and how young their son is.
But, they clarified that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to get a tutor, as they had held off until their firstborn was five, and by that age "cultural bias had already become established".
What precisely did the family indicate by "cultural bias"?
It's "all-encompassing", he responded. "The way you eat, the manner you speak".
He explained the firstborn had adopted "very nuanced, body language" from the family, and had adopted their cultural habits. The family informed Adam they did not want this pattern to repeat itself with their new baby.
The plan: To engage a English tutor, who needs to speak with standard English accent, to guide the baby from the very start.
Osmotic Learning
"Much of the learning at the outset here is rather absorbed naturally," said the CEO.
It's through this natural absorption that the family are hoping the child will pick up the British traits they want to cultivate.
The consultant said the tutor needed to be someone who studied at "the appropriate educational institutions – comparable categories of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The instructor simply needs to be the suitable individual, they'll be carrying out things they aren't even aware they're doing, effortlessly," he commented.
Expense Not a Factor
The family informed Adam the successful candidate should ideally also have familiarity of or interest in horse riding, alpine skiing, the arts and music so as to inspire the child in a wide range of passions.
More than that though, he explained the family hoped the tutor to sign up the child on a selection of courses so the child would be "equestrian training and starting an musical instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's view, helping their son become a "UK sophisticate" will result in success and open doors.
"Considering the rights and wrongs of that, because it's definitely a social class indicator," he adds.
But, despite all this instruction in "Britishness", would the child pick up alleged cultural leaning from the international family he lives with regardless?
"Absolutely", replied Adam. "The family understand this may not work, but they've merely embraced the perspective of, 'why not attempt it and let's go as quickly as we can', because the cost of it is not a concern," he stated.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
There are some in the education sector who express those reservations.
An education leader, chief executive of Blue Education, who also offer individual instructors, stated that "the journey of becoming bicultural, or in fact, forming one's identity, is something that must be grown into, not manufactured."
Peter explained that he had emigrated from Asia to the Britain at the age of 7 years old, and had been educated experiencing and practicing both cultures. He continued to learn at Cambridge University.
"The idea that an individual can function as a representation of UK identity, a person who can in some way transfer the characteristics of a UK sophisticate onto a 12-month-old child, strikes me as naive and impractical," he commented.
"In my experience, engaging a quintessentially English tutor from early childhood will does not instantly produce the goal they want.
"I did not have such a figure, and nevertheless I have been privileged enough to experience many of the experiences they aspire for their son."
He stated: "The fact is, self-identity cannot be forced from the outside; it must be selected, and it must originate internally."
Purchasing UK Culture
Naturally, Britishness is something the CEO thinks can be educated – and marketed.
"In my view the fact that the global community regards us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
