"Parents located in the northern part of London wants to find an extraordinary and qualified tutor to assist their smallest child on his first steps to growing into an British gentleman."
When reading this listing, you might naturally overlook the term "first-steps" as mere an expression.
Yet, it could be the most important element of this unusual employment listing, as it aims to hire a teacher for a infant.
Hundreds of submissions have already been sent in since the unidentified family posted their search for the £180k-a-year tutor, who needs to be "an exceptional individual".
Over the last few weeks, the advert has received interest in the press, with several asking why?
Progressive Approach
Adam Caller, head and founder of Tutors International, which is assisting the family in their search, explained that despite early skepticism, he found the idea "far sighted", and "innovative".
When he met the family, he mentioned they understood the unusual aspect of their requirement, and how young their son is.
But, they clarified that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had waited until their firstborn was five, and by that age "cultural conditioning had by then taken hold".
What precisely does the family mean by "cultural bias"?
It's "comprehensive", the expert answered. "The way you eat, the manner you speak".
He explained the firstborn had picked up "extremely delicate, unspoken signals" from the family, and had taken on their cultural norms. The family told the consultant they did not want this pattern to recur with their new baby.
The strategy: To bring in a English tutor, who must speak with RP, to influence the baby right from the beginning.
Osmotic Learning
"Much of the development at the outset here is somewhat acquired indirectly," stated the CEO.
It's through this osmosis that the family are hoping the child will acquire the English characteristics they aim to instil.
The consultant noted the tutor needed to be an individual who attended "the appropriate educational institutions – comparable categories of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The tutor must be the appropriate candidate, they'll be doing things they don't even know they're doing, simply by nature," he added.
Expense Not a Factor
The family informed him the selected educator should ideally also have familiarity of or passion in horse riding, skiing, artistic pursuits and instrumental training so as to inspire the child in a broad spectrum of interests.
Furthermore though, he stated the family hoped the tutor to enrol the child on a variety of classes so the child would be "pony-riding and starting an musical instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's minds, guiding their son become a "British gentleman" will result in success and open doors.
"Considering the pros and cons of that, because it's certainly a class statement," he notes.
Yet, despite all this instruction in "English culture", might the child pick up alleged cultural leaning from the globally influenced family he resides with in any case?
"Certainly", said Adam. "They know this may not work, but they've merely embraced the attitude of, 'we should try and we'll proceed as soon as we can', because the expense of it is irrelevant," he stated.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
Several in the education sector who share those concerns.
Peter Cui, chief executive of a tutoring service, who provides personal educators, stated that "the journey of embracing two identities, or actually, forming one's identity, is something that must be lived into, not engineered."
He noted that he had moved from the Far East to the Britain at the period of childhood, and had been raised knowing and living two backgrounds. He went on to study at the University of Cambridge.
"The notion that a single person can function as a living vessel of Britishness, a person who can possibly transplant the characteristics of a English gentleman to a 12-month-old child, seems to me idealistic and impractical," he commented.
"From my perspective, having a distinctly British tutor from infancy will does not automatically achieve the outcome they desire.
"I wasn't provided with such a tutor, and nevertheless I have been lucky enough to live numerous of the situations they desire for their son."
He continued: "The truth is, self-identity can not be forced from the external environment; it must be embraced, and it must be internally driven."
Acquiring Englishness
Of course, UK identity is something the expert believes can be taught – and marketed.
"I think the situation that the international society holds us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
