"A household residing in the northern part of London wants to find an extraordinary and skilled tutor to guide their most junior child on his first steps to turning into an British gentleman."
When reading this post, you might naturally miss the term "first-steps" as just an expression.
But, it could be the most significant part of this distinctive position posting, as it seeks to recruit a teacher for a one-year-old.
Numerous of responses have now been submitted since the unnamed family advertised their search for the £180,000 per year tutor, who has to be "someone very special".
During the past few weeks, the listing has gained notice across the news, with several questioning why?
Innovative Idea
The CEO, chief executive of a global tutoring firm, which is assisting the family in their quest, stated that notwithstanding early scepticism, he found the idea "forward-looking", and "advanced".
When he consulted the family, he said they recognized the unusual character of their request, and how immature their son is.
Nevertheless, they clarified that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to get a tutor, as they had held off until their firstborn was five, and by that age "cultural conditioning had by then set in".
What exactly does the family indicate by "cultural bias"?
It's "comprehensive", he responded. "The way you eat, the manner you speak".
He stated the firstborn had picked up "extremely delicate, unspoken signals" from the family, and had adopted their cultural norms. The family explained to the consultant they hoped to prevent history to repeat itself with their infant.
The strategy: To bring in a UK tutor, who must speak with Received Pronunciation, to guide the baby right from the beginning.
Natural Absorption
"A great deal of the education at the start here is kind of absorbed naturally," said Adam.
It's by means of this natural absorption that the family are aiming the child will adopt the UK customs they want to cultivate.
Adam explained the tutor needed to be an individual who attended "prestigious academies – the same kinds of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The tutor simply needs to be the suitable individual, they'll be carrying out things they don't even know they're doing, just naturally," he added.
Cost Not Relevant
The family informed the expert the successful candidate should preferably also have understanding of or interest in horse riding, alpine skiing, the arts and instrumental training so as to influence the child in a diverse set of interests.
More than that though, he explained the family desired the tutor to register the child on a variety of lessons so the child would be "horseback riding and starting an musical instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's perspective, guiding their son become a "British gentleman" will result in accomplishment and create opportunities.
"Taking into account the rights and wrongs of that, because it's undoubtedly a status symbol," he notes.
But, despite all this guidance in "UK identity", might the child absorb so-called cultural bias from the globally influenced family he lives with in any case?
"Certainly", answered he. "The family know this might not succeed, but they've simply adopted the view of, 'we should try and let's go as early as we can', because the price of it is irrelevant," he explained.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
There are some in the tutoring industry who have these doubts.
Another CEO, head and founder of an educational organization, who supplies private tutors, stated that "the development of embracing two identities, or actually, becoming oneself, is something that must be lived into, not engineered."
The expert explained that he had relocated from Asia to the Britain at the time of childhood, and had been raised knowing and living both cultures. He progressed to study at Cambridge University.
"The notion that one individual can function as a living vessel of UK identity, someone who can possibly transfer the qualities of a English gentleman onto a infant child, strikes me as naive and unfeasible," he stated.
"In my experience, engaging a typically English tutor from early childhood will does not automatically produce the result they want.
"I did not have such a tutor, and however I have been fortunate enough to experience many of the experiences they aspire for their son."
He continued: "The fact is, personal identity cannot be forced from the external environment; it must be chosen, 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 reality that the world holds us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
