"A household based in north London seeks an exceptional and experienced educator to support their smallest child on his first steps to turning into an English gentleman."
Looking at this post, you might naturally miss the phrase "first-steps" as simple figurative language.
However, it might be the most important aspect of this unique employment listing, as it seeks to hire a mentor for a infant.
Numerous of responses have since been sent in since the unnamed family advertised their search for the £180,000 per year tutor, who must be "someone very special".
During the past few weeks, the listing has gained interest across the news, with many questioning why?
Forward-Thinking Method
Adam Caller, CEO and founder of an education consultancy, which is assisting the family in their quest, explained that despite early skepticism, he found the plan "far sighted", and "innovative".
When he spoke with the family, he mentioned they appreciated the atypical nature of their demand, and how early in age their son is.
Nevertheless, they explained that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had held off until their firstborn was five, and by that age "cultural bias had already set in".
What exactly does the family mean by "cultural bias"?
It's "comprehensive", Adam replied. "How you eat, the manner you speak".
He explained the firstborn had picked up "really subtle, unspoken signals" from the family, and had adopted their cultural ways. The family told the consultant they did not want history to recur with their infant.
The plan: To bring in a English tutor, who must speak with standard English accent, to shape the baby right from the beginning.
Osmotic Learning
"A great deal of the education at the beginning here is kind of osmotic," explained Adam.
It's through this osmosis that the family are expecting the child will pick up the English characteristics they aim to impart.
Adam noted the tutor needed to be someone who attended "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 suitable individual, they'll be carrying out things they don't even know they're doing, simply by nature," he said.
Money No Object
The family informed him the selected educator should ideally also have understanding of or interest in riding, alpine skiing, the arts and music so as to influence the child in a wide range of hobbies.
Additionally though, he stated the family hoped the tutor to sign up the child on a range of courses so the child would be "pony-riding and starting an musical instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's view, helping their son grow into a "English gentleman" will lead to accomplishment and provide access.
"Taking into account the rights and wrongs of that, because it's undoubtedly a social class indicator," he notes.
However, despite all this guidance in "UK identity", might the child pick up alleged cultural bias from the multicultural family he resides with regardless?
"Yes", said he. "The family realize this may not work, but they've just taken the attitude of, 'we should try and let's go as soon as we can', because the cost of it is irrelevant," he stated.
Overly Optimistic
A number of in the education sector who express those doubts.
An education leader, CEO and founder of an educational organization, who provides personal educators, commented that "the development of embracing two identities, or actually, forming one's identity, is something that must be experienced personally, not engineered."
The expert explained that he had moved from the Far East to the Britain at the time of childhood, and had been raised knowing and practicing two backgrounds. He continued to learn at a prestigious UK institution.
"The concept that a single person can act as a embodiment of Britishness, a person who can somehow impart the qualities of a English gentleman onto a one-year-old child, appears idealistic and impractical," he stated.
"In my experience, having a typically British tutor from early childhood will does not instantly produce the outcome they want.
"I did not have such a tutor, and however I have been fortunate enough to live many of the experiences they desire for their son."
He added: "The reality is, cultural identity should not be dictated from the outside influences; it must be embraced, and it must be internally driven."
Acquiring Englishness
Certainly, Britishness is something the expert hopes can be taught – and sold.
"I believe the fact that the world views us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
