"A family based in north London is looking for an remarkable and experienced educator to guide their most junior child on his first steps to growing into an British gentleman."
When reading this post, you might readily skip the wording "first-steps" as simple a turn of phrase.
However, it could be the crucial element of this distinctive employment listing, as it attempts to hire a teacher for a one-year-old.
Hundreds of submissions have already been received since the unnamed family advertised their call for the highly paid tutor, who must be "a uniquely qualified person".
Over the last few weeks, the post has attracted notice throughout the news, with numerous wondering why?
Progressive Approach
Adam Caller, CEO and founder of an education consultancy, which is supporting the family in their search, stated that notwithstanding initial skepticism, he viewed the idea "visionary", and "progressive".
When he met the family, he noted they understood the atypical aspect of their demand, and how early in age their son is.
However, they stated that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had waited until their elder sibling was five, and by that age "cultural bias had already set in".
What precisely did the family refer to by "cultural bias"?
It's "everything", Adam replied. "The way you eat, how you speak".
He explained the older sibling had adopted "very nuanced, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had assumed their cultural norms. The family explained to him they wished to avoid the same situation to recur with their infant.
The intention: To bring in a UK tutor, who must speak with RP, to influence the baby right from the beginning.
Natural Absorption
"A great deal of the learning at the outset here is kind of absorbed naturally," stated the CEO.
It's by means of this natural absorption that the family are expecting the child will acquire the UK customs they wish to instil.
He noted the tutor had to be someone who went to "the right kinds of schools – similar types of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The tutor simply needs to be the suitable individual, they'll be performing things they aren't even aware they're doing, effortlessly," he commented.
Expense Not a Factor
The family told him the chosen tutor should ideally also have knowledge of or interest in riding, alpine skiing, artistic pursuits and instrumental training so as to inspire the child in a broad spectrum of interests.
Additionally though, he stated the family hoped the tutor to register the child on a variety of lessons so the child would be "pony-riding and starting an tool by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's minds, helping their son develop into a "British gentleman" will bring about achievement and create opportunities.
"Considering the rights and wrongs of that, because it's undoubtedly a class statement," he notes.
Yet, in spite of all this tutelage in "Britishness", could the child pick up alleged cultural leaning from the international family he lives with anyway?
"Certainly", said Adam. "The parents know this could fail, but they've just taken the perspective of, 'why not attempt it and let's go as soon as we can', because the cost of it is not a concern," he explained.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
A number of in the education sector who express similar reservations.
Another CEO, CEO and founder of a tutoring service, who supplies individual instructors, commented that "the development of embracing two identities, or in fact, forming one's identity, is something that must be experienced personally, not designed."
The expert noted that he had relocated from Asia to the UK at the period of childhood, and had been raised understanding and embodying dual heritages. He progressed to learn at the University of Cambridge.
"The idea that an individual can function as a living vessel of Britishness, a person who can in some way transplant the qualities of a British gentleman upon a one-year-old child, strikes me as naive and unfeasible," he wrote.
"Based on my background, employing a typically British tutor from babyhood will will not instantly create the outcome they hope for.
"I did not have that kind of mentor, and however I have been privileged enough to experience several of the opportunities they desire for their son."
He stated: "The truth is, cultural identity can not be dictated from the outside; it must be embraced, and it must come from within."
Purchasing UK Culture
Of course, UK identity is something Adam thinks can be instructed – and commercialized.
"I believe the reality that the world views us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
