"Parents located in North London is looking for an exceptional and qualified tutor to support their most junior child on his first steps to growing into an British gentleman."
When reading this listing, you might naturally miss the term "first-steps" as just figurative language.
Yet, it might be the most significant element of this unique position posting, as it aims to hire a tutor for a 12-month-old.
Numerous of submissions have since been received since the unnamed family posted their search for the £180k-a-year tutor, who must be "a uniquely qualified person".
In recent few weeks, the listing has attracted interest in the media, with numerous wondering why?
Innovative Idea
The CEO, chief executive of Tutors International, which is supporting the family in their hunt, explained that notwithstanding initial skepticism, he viewed the idea "forward-looking", and "advanced".
When he met the family, he noted they appreciated the unusual aspect of their requirement, and how immature their son is.
But, they clarified that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to get a tutor, as they had held off until their older child was five, and by that age "cultural bias had by then taken hold".
But what does the family refer to by "cultural bias"?
It's "everything", the expert responded. "The manner you eat, how you speak".
He stated the firstborn had adopted "very nuanced, body language" from the family, and had adopted their cultural norms. The family told the consultant they hoped to prevent this pattern to repeat itself with their new baby.
The intention: To engage a English tutor, who must speak with RP, to shape the baby from the very start.
Osmotic Learning
"A great deal of the learning at the outset here is kind of acquired indirectly," said the CEO.
It's through this subtle influence that the family are aiming the child will acquire the UK customs they want to impart.
He noted the tutor must be someone who went to "prestigious academies – comparable categories of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The educator must be the suitable individual, they'll be performing things they don't even know they're doing, just naturally," he added.
Money No Object
The family explained to the expert the chosen tutor should preferably also have understanding of or enthusiasm in riding, skiing, creative fields and instrumental training so as to inspire the child in a diverse set of hobbies.
Additionally though, he said the family hoped the tutor to register the child on a range of courses so the child would be "equestrian training and picking up an musical instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's minds, guiding their son become a "English gentleman" will bring about achievement and provide access.
"For all the rights and wrongs of that, because it's definitely a status symbol," he notes.
However, despite all this tutelage in "Britishness", might the child adopt so-called cultural bias from the multicultural family he lives with anyway?
"Certainly", answered Adam. "They realize this could fail, but they've simply adopted the perspective of, 'why not attempt it and we should start as soon as we can', because the cost of it is not relevant," he stated.
Overly Optimistic
There are some in the private teaching field who have similar doubts.
Another CEO, head and founder of Blue Education, who provides individual instructors, wrote that "the development of adopting dual cultures, or actually, forming one's identity, is something that must be experienced personally, not manufactured."
The expert noted that he had relocated from China to the UK at the time of seven, and had been educated experiencing and practicing both cultures. He went on to study at a prestigious UK institution.
"The notion that an individual can function as a representation of English culture, someone who can possibly transfer the attributes of a English gentleman onto a one-year-old child, appears idealistic and unfeasible," he commented.
"Based on my background, employing a quintessentially UK tutor from early childhood will will not instantly achieve the outcome they want.
"I never had such a figure, and however I have been privileged enough to enjoy several of the situations they aspire for their son."
He continued: "The reality is, cultural identity cannot be forced from the outside; it must be chosen, and it must come from within."
Acquiring Englishness
Naturally, English culture is something the CEO believes can be educated – and marketed.
"In my view the fact that the world holds us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
