"A household located in North London is looking for an exceptional and qualified instructor to assist their smallest child on his first steps to growing into an English gentleman."
Upon seeing this listing, you might easily overlook the term "first-steps" as simple an expression.
But, it might be the most important part of this unusual position posting, as it attempts to hire a mentor for a one-year-old.
Hundreds of applications have now been sent in since the anonymous family advertised their call for the £180,000 per year tutor, who needs to be "someone very special".
In recent few weeks, the listing has attracted attention throughout the press, with several wondering why?
Innovative Idea
Adam Caller, head and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is supporting the family in their hunt, explained that notwithstanding initial doubt, he found the concept "far sighted", and "innovative".
When he spoke with the family, he noted they understood the atypical character of their requirement, and how immature their son is.
However, they stated that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had postponed until their firstborn was five, and by that stage "cultural bias had by then become established".
What exactly did the family refer to by "cultural leaning"?
It's "everything", he replied. "The manner you eat, how you speak".
He said the firstborn had absorbed "really subtle, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had adopted their cultural ways. The family told the consultant they wished to avoid the same situation to repeat itself with their infant.
The plan: To engage a UK tutor, who should speak with Received Pronunciation, to shape the baby from the very start.
Natural Absorption
"A great deal of the education at the beginning here is rather acquired indirectly," said the CEO.
It's through this natural absorption that the family are aiming the child will pick up the English characteristics they aim to cultivate.
Adam explained the tutor needed to be someone who attended "prestigious academies – similar types of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The instructor simply needs to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be performing things they may not realize they're doing, effortlessly," he added.
Cost Not Relevant
The family informed Adam the selected educator should ideally also have understanding of or passion in riding, skiing, the arts and music so as to shape the child in a broad spectrum of interests.
Furthermore though, he stated the family desired the tutor to enrol the child on a selection of classes so the child would be "pony-riding and starting an instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's minds, helping their son develop into a "English gentleman" will result in success and provide access.
"Taking into account the rights and wrongs of that, because it's definitely a status symbol," he comments.
Yet, despite all this guidance in "English culture", might the child pick up so-called cultural bias from the globally influenced family he resides with anyway?
"Certainly", said he. "The family understand this might not succeed, but they've simply adopted the attitude of, 'why not attempt it and let's go as early as we can', because the cost of it is not a concern," he stated.
Overly Optimistic
A number of in the tutoring industry who share similar reservations.
Peter Cui, head and founder of an educational organization, who also offer private tutors, wrote that "the process of embracing two identities, or indeed, forming one's identity, is something that must be experienced personally, not manufactured."
He wrote that he had emigrated from Asia to the Britain at the period of seven, and had been raised knowing and practicing dual heritages. He continued to learn at a prestigious UK institution.
"The concept that an individual can act as a representation of UK identity, an individual who can possibly transplant the qualities of a British gentleman to a one-year-old child, seems to me naive and unfeasible," he wrote.
"In my experience, employing a distinctly English tutor from infancy will not automatically achieve the goal they desire.
"I wasn't provided with such a tutor, and yet I have been lucky enough to experience numerous of the situations they hope for their son."
He stated: "The fact is, self-identity should not be forced from the external environment; it must be chosen, and it must be internally driven."
Purchasing UK Culture
Certainly, UK identity is something the expert believes can be taught – and commercialized.
"I believe the fact that the global community views us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
