"A family located in North London is looking for an remarkable and experienced instructor to assist their most junior child on his first steps to becoming an English gentleman."
Upon seeing this listing, you might easily miss the phrase "first-steps" as just an expression.
Yet, it could be the crucial element of this distinctive job advert, as it seeks to find a teacher for a one-year-old.
Many of responses have since been received since the anonymous family posted their request for the £180,000 per year tutor, who has to be "an exceptional individual".
Over the last few weeks, the advert has gained attention across the media, with many asking why?
Forward-Thinking Method
The CEO, chief executive of a global tutoring firm, which is assisting the family in their search, stated that in spite of early scepticism, he viewed the idea "far sighted", and "progressive".
When he spoke with the family, he mentioned they recognized the unusual character of their requirement, and how immature their son is.
Nevertheless, they stated that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had waited until their older child was five, and by that point "cultural bias had already become established".
What exactly did the family refer to by "cultural leaning"?
It's "all-encompassing", Adam responded. "The manner you eat, the way you speak".
He said the firstborn had adopted "extremely delicate, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had assumed their cultural norms. The family told the consultant they did not want the same situation to happen again with their younger child.
The plan: To engage a British tutor, who should speak with Received Pronunciation, to guide the baby from the very start.
Osmotic Learning
"A great deal of the learning at the outset here is rather acquired indirectly," stated the expert.
It's via this natural absorption that the family are expecting the child will acquire the UK customs they aim to impart.
The consultant noted the tutor had to be somebody who went to "prestigious academies – the same kinds of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The instructor just has to be the right kind of person, they'll be performing things they may not realize they're doing, effortlessly," he said.
Expense Not a Factor
The family informed Adam the chosen tutor should ideally also have familiarity of or interest in equestrian activities, alpine skiing, artistic pursuits and musical activities so as to influence the child in a wide range of passions.
More than that though, he explained the family desired the tutor to sign up the child on a range of lessons so the child would be "pony-riding and starting an tool by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's view, guiding their son develop into a "UK sophisticate" will lead to accomplishment and provide access.
"Considering the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's undoubtedly a status symbol," he notes.
Yet, despite all this tutelage in "UK identity", could the child pick up what is termed cultural leaning from the globally influenced family he lives with in any case?
"Certainly", said he. "The parents realize this might not succeed, but they've just taken the view of, 'why not attempt it and we should start as soon as we can', because the cost of it is not a concern," he explained.
Overly Optimistic
Several in the tutoring industry who express these reservations.
Peter Cui, chief executive of an educational organization, who also offer personal educators, stated that "the journey of embracing two identities, or indeed, forming one's identity, is something that must be grown into, not engineered."
The expert noted that he had relocated from Asia to the United Kingdom at the time of childhood, and had been educated understanding and living dual heritages. He went on to study at Cambridge University.
"The concept that a single person can act as a living vessel of Britishness, an individual who can in some way transplant the characteristics of a UK sophisticate upon a one-year-old child, strikes me as naive and unrealistic," he stated.
"In my experience, having a distinctly English tutor from infancy will not necessarily produce the goal they want.
"I never had such a tutor, and nevertheless I have been fortunate enough to experience numerous of the opportunities they hope for their son."
He added: "The fact is, self-identity should not be dictated from the external environment; it must be embraced, and it must come from within."
Purchasing UK Culture
Certainly, UK identity is something the CEO hopes can be educated – and commercialized.
"In my view the reality that the world regards us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
