"Parents located in north London is looking for an remarkable and qualified educator to guide their most junior child on his first steps to becoming an British gentleman."
Upon seeing this listing, you might naturally miss the phrase "first-steps" as simple an expression.
However, it might be the crucial part of this unique employment listing, as it attempts to recruit a tutor for a 12-month-old.
Many of applications have since been sent in since the unnamed family posted their request for the £180,000 per year tutor, who must be "an exceptional individual".
In recent few weeks, the listing has gained interest in the press, with many asking why?
Progressive Approach
The CEO, CEO and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is supporting the family in their hunt, explained that notwithstanding first skepticism, he found the idea "far sighted", and "innovative".
When he met the family, he said they understood the atypical nature of their requirement, and how young their son is.
However, they clarified that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to get a tutor, as they had waited until their elder sibling was five, and by that age "cultural bias had by then become established".
What exactly does the family indicate by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "everything", Adam responded. "How you eat, how you speak".
He explained the older sibling had picked up "really subtle, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had taken on their cultural ways. The family told him they wished to avoid history to happen again with their new baby.
The intention: To engage a English tutor, who must speak with RP, to guide the baby from the very start.
Osmotic Learning
"A great deal of the education at the outset here is rather acquired indirectly," said the expert.
It's through this osmosis that the family are hoping the child will adopt the British traits they wish to cultivate.
He explained the tutor had to be someone who went to "the right kinds of schools – the same kinds of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The instructor just has to be the suitable individual, they'll be carrying out things they aren't even aware they're doing, just naturally," he commented.
Money No Object
The family told Adam the selected educator should preferably also have familiarity of or passion in riding, winter sports, creative fields and musical activities so as to inspire the child in a diverse set of passions.
More than that though, he stated the family wanted the tutor to enrol the child on a selection of lessons so the child would be "pony-riding and picking up an musical instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's perspective, assisting their son become a "English gentleman" will bring about achievement and create opportunities.
"Considering the pros and cons of that, because it's definitely a class statement," he comments.
However, notwithstanding all this instruction in "English culture", might the child adopt what is termed cultural bias from the multicultural family he is raised by anyway?
"Yes", said the CEO. "The family understand this might not succeed, but they've simply adopted the perspective of, 'we should try and let's go as quickly as we can', because the expense of it is not a concern," he said.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
There are some in the tutoring industry who share these concerns.
Another CEO, chief executive of an educational organization, who also offer individual instructors, commented that "the journey of embracing two identities, or in fact, discovering oneself, is something that must be lived into, not designed."
He explained that he had relocated from China to the Britain at the time of seven, and had been raised understanding and embodying dual heritages. He continued to be educated at the University of Cambridge.
"The concept that a single person can serve as a embodiment of English culture, a person who can somehow impart the qualities of a English gentleman upon a infant child, strikes me as idealistic and unrealistic," he commented.
"In my experience, employing a distinctly UK tutor from early childhood will will not necessarily create the goal they hope for.
"I did not have such a tutor, and nevertheless I have been fortunate enough to live many of the experiences they hope for their son."
He added: "The fact is, personal identity can not be forced from the outside; it must be embraced, and it must be internally driven."
Acquiring Englishness
Naturally, UK identity is something the CEO hopes can be educated – and marketed.
"I believe the fact that the international society regards us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
