"Parents based in the northern part of London seeks an exceptional and qualified tutor to assist their youngest child on his early path to becoming an English gentleman."
Upon seeing this listing, you might naturally miss the wording "first-steps" as mere a turn of phrase.
However, it may be the most important part of this unique position posting, as it seeks to find a teacher for a infant.
Numerous of submissions have now been submitted since the anonymous family posted their search for the highly paid tutor, who has to be "an exceptional individual".
During the past few weeks, the listing has received interest throughout the media, with many questioning why?
Progressive Approach
The CEO, head and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is helping the family in their search, explained that notwithstanding initial skepticism, he found the concept "forward-looking", and "innovative".
When he spoke with the family, he said they understood the unconventional aspect of their request, and how early in age their son is.
Nevertheless, they stated that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had postponed until their elder sibling was five, and by that stage "cultural influence had already become established".
What precisely does the family mean by "cultural leaning"?
It's "all-encompassing", he answered. "The way you eat, how you speak".
He stated the older sibling had picked up "really subtle, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had taken on their cultural habits. The family informed Adam they hoped to prevent this pattern to repeat itself with their younger child.
The strategy: To bring in a UK tutor, who should speak with standard English accent, to shape the baby from the very start.
Natural Absorption
"Much of the education at the outset here is kind of acquired indirectly," said the expert.
It's via this natural absorption that the family are expecting the child will acquire the English characteristics they want to cultivate.
He noted the tutor must be an individual who attended "the right kinds of schools – the same kinds of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The instructor simply needs to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be carrying out things they don't even know they're doing, effortlessly," he added.
Cost Not Relevant
The family informed him the selected educator should preferably also have familiarity of or passion in horse riding, alpine skiing, artistic pursuits and instrumental training so as to shape the child in a diverse set of passions.
Furthermore though, he explained the family hoped the tutor to sign up the child on a variety of classes 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 minds, guiding their son grow into a "English gentleman" will result in accomplishment and provide access.
"For all the pros and cons of that, because it's undoubtedly a social class indicator," he comments.
However, in spite of all this instruction in "English culture", might the child adopt what is termed cultural leaning from the globally influenced family he is raised by anyway?
"Yes", said the CEO. "They understand this might not succeed, but they've merely embraced the perspective of, 'let's give it a go and we should start as early as we can', because the price of it is not a concern," he stated.
Impractical
A number of in the tutoring industry who have these concerns.
Another CEO, CEO and founder of an educational organization, who provides individual instructors, wrote that "the development of adopting dual cultures, or in fact, discovering oneself, is something that must be lived into, not manufactured."
He explained that he had relocated from Asia to the UK at the time of 7 years old, and had been brought up experiencing and practicing both cultures. He went on to learn at the University of Cambridge.
"The idea that a single person can serve as a representation of UK identity, someone who can possibly impart the characteristics of a British gentleman upon a infant child, strikes me as naive and unrealistic," he commented.
"In my experience, having a quintessentially British tutor from infancy will not instantly achieve the outcome they want.
"I wasn't provided with such a tutor, and yet I have been lucky enough to enjoy numerous of the situations they desire for their son."
He added: "The reality is, cultural identity cannot be forced from the outside influences; it must be selected, and it must be internally driven."
Buying Britishness
Certainly, Britishness is something the expert hopes can be educated – and commercialized.
"I believe the fact that the international society holds us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
