"A family residing in the northern part of London wants to find an exceptional and skilled tutor to support their smallest child on his first steps to growing into an English gentleman."
Upon seeing this post, you might naturally skip the wording "first-steps" as mere figurative language.
But, it could be the most important aspect of this distinctive position posting, as it attempts to recruit a teacher for a infant.
Hundreds of responses have now been received since the unnamed family advertised their request for the highly paid tutor, who must be "someone very special".
In recent few weeks, the post has received notice in the news, with numerous questioning why?
Progressive Approach
Adam Caller, chief executive of a global tutoring firm, which is supporting the family in their quest, said that notwithstanding initial scepticism, he found the plan "forward-looking", and "innovative".
When he met the family, he mentioned they appreciated the atypical nature of their request, and how young their son is.
However, they clarified that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had held off until their firstborn was five, and by that age "cultural bias had by then become established".
What precisely did the family indicate by "cultural leaning"?
It's "everything", the expert responded. "How you eat, the way you speak".
He stated the older sibling had adopted "really subtle, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had adopted their cultural norms. The family told him they hoped to prevent this pattern to happen again with their infant.
The strategy: To hire a British tutor, who must speak with Received Pronunciation, to guide the baby right from the beginning.
Natural Absorption
"A great deal of the development at the start here is rather osmotic," said the CEO.
It's through this subtle influence that the family are expecting the child will adopt the English characteristics they want to impart.
Adam said the tutor must be somebody who studied at "the right kinds of schools – comparable categories of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The educator just has to be the suitable individual, they'll be doing things they aren't even aware they're doing, effortlessly," he commented.
Money No Object
The family explained to him the selected educator should ideally also have understanding of or interest in horse riding, winter sports, the arts and musical activities so as to shape the child in a broad spectrum of interests.
Additionally though, he said the family wanted the tutor to enrol the child on a selection of lessons so the child would be "equestrian training and learning an instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's perspective, guiding their son develop into a "UK sophisticate" will result in achievement and provide access.
"Taking into account the rights and wrongs of that, because it's undoubtedly a status symbol," he notes.
Yet, despite all this tutelage in "English culture", would the child absorb alleged cultural bias from the globally influenced family he lives with anyway?
"Certainly", answered Adam. "The parents realize this might not succeed, but they've merely embraced the perspective of, 'why not attempt it and we'll proceed as quickly as we can', because the price of it is not a concern," he explained.
Overly Optimistic
Several in the tutoring industry who share these reservations.
Peter Cui, CEO and founder of Blue Education, who supplies private tutors, stated that "the journey of adopting dual cultures, or indeed, becoming oneself, is something that must be lived into, not engineered."
The expert explained that he had emigrated from the Far East to the Britain at the time of childhood, and had been brought up knowing and embodying both cultures. He went on to be educated at the University of Cambridge.
"The notion that an individual can function as a living vessel of UK identity, someone who can in some way transfer the qualities of a British gentleman upon a 12-month-old child, appears optimistic and unrealistic," he stated.
"In my experience, having a quintessentially English tutor from babyhood will not necessarily create the outcome they hope for.
"I did not have that kind of mentor, and however I have been fortunate enough to enjoy several of the experiences they desire for their son."
He continued: "The fact is, cultural identity should not be imposed from the outside; it must be chosen, and it must originate internally."
Acquiring Englishness
Naturally, UK identity is something the CEO hopes can be instructed – and commercialized.
"In my view the situation that the international society regards us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
