"A family based in the northern part of London seeks an exceptional and experienced tutor to support their smallest child on his first steps to growing into an British gentleman."
Upon seeing this advertisement, you might readily skip the wording "first-steps" as simple figurative language.
However, it might be the crucial part of this unique position posting, as it seeks to hire a teacher for a infant.
Hundreds of submissions have already been submitted since the anonymous family advertised their search for the £180,000 per year tutor, who has to be "an exceptional individual".
During the past few weeks, the post has attracted notice throughout the press, with several asking why?
Progressive Approach
The CEO, chief executive of a global tutoring firm, which is helping the family in their quest, stated that despite initial scepticism, he found the concept "far sighted", and "advanced".
When he met the family, he mentioned they understood the atypical character of their requirement, and how early in age their son is.
But, they clarified that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had postponed until their elder sibling was five, and by that age "cultural conditioning had already set in".
But what does the family refer to by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "comprehensive", Adam responded. "The way you eat, the manner you speak".
He said the older sibling had adopted "really subtle, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had taken on their cultural norms. The family informed the consultant they did not want history to happen again with their new baby.
The strategy: To hire a British tutor, who needs to speak with RP, to influence the baby from day one.
Natural Absorption
"Much of the learning at the start here is kind of osmotic," said the expert.
It's through this natural absorption that the family are hoping the child will acquire the English characteristics they want to instil.
He explained the tutor had to be an individual who attended "prestigious academies – comparable categories of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The instructor simply needs to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be performing things they aren't even aware they're doing, effortlessly," he said.
Cost Not Relevant
The family told the expert the successful candidate should ideally also have knowledge of or interest in equestrian activities, alpine skiing, the arts and music so as to shape the child in a broad spectrum of passions.
Additionally though, he stated the family wanted the tutor to enrol the child on a variety of classes so the child would be "horseback riding and picking up an tool by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's view, helping their son grow into a "British gentleman" will bring about accomplishment and provide access.
"For all the rights and wrongs of that, because it's undoubtedly a status symbol," he adds.
Yet, in spite of all this guidance in "UK identity", might the child pick up what is termed cultural bias from the globally influenced family he is raised by anyway?
"Yes", said the CEO. "The parents know this could fail, but they've just taken the attitude of, 'let's give it a go and we should start as early as we can', because the expense of it is not a concern," he stated.
Impractical
There are some in the education sector who share these reservations.
Another CEO, chief executive of a tutoring service, who provides individual instructors, stated that "the process of becoming bicultural, or indeed, discovering oneself, is something that must be lived into, not engineered."
The expert noted that he had relocated from Asia to the Britain at the time of seven, and had been raised understanding and living dual heritages. He progressed to learn at the University of Cambridge.
"The concept that an individual can act as a living vessel of UK identity, someone who can in some way impart the attributes of a UK sophisticate upon a one-year-old child, appears optimistic and unfeasible," he stated.
"Based on my background, having a typically English tutor from early childhood will will not necessarily achieve the result they want.
"I never had that kind of mentor, and yet I have been privileged enough to enjoy many of the experiences they desire for their son."
He stated: "The truth is, self-identity can not be forced from the external environment; it must be chosen, and it must come from within."
Buying Britishness
Naturally, Britishness is something the expert believes can be instructed – and commercialized.
"In my view the fact that the global community holds us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
