"Parents based in the northern part of London seeks an exceptional and skilled instructor to support their smallest child on his early path to becoming an English gentleman."
When reading this listing, you might easily miss the phrase "first-steps" as mere figurative language.
However, it may be the most important element of this unique position posting, as it seeks to find a teacher for a infant.
Many of applications have since been submitted since the anonymous family posted their request for the £180k-a-year tutor, who needs to be "an exceptional individual".
Over the last few weeks, the post has gained notice throughout the press, with numerous questioning why?
Progressive Approach
The CEO, CEO and founder of an education consultancy, which is helping the family in their search, stated that notwithstanding first scepticism, he found the concept "forward-looking", and "innovative".
When he spoke with the family, he said they recognized the unconventional aspect of their demand, and how young their son is.
Nevertheless, they explained that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had postponed until their older child was five, and by that age "cultural bias had by then become established".
What exactly does the family indicate by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "everything", he replied. "How you eat, the manner you speak".
He explained the older sibling had adopted "really subtle, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had taken on their cultural norms. The family informed the consultant they hoped to prevent the same situation to recur with their younger child.
The intention: To engage a British tutor, who needs to speak with standard English accent, to shape the baby from the very start.
Osmotic Learning
"A lot of the education at the start here is kind of absorbed naturally," said Adam.
It's via this subtle influence that the family are hoping the child will acquire the UK customs they wish to instil.
He explained the tutor must be someone who went to "prestigious academies – comparable categories of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The instructor just has to be the suitable individual, they'll be carrying out things they don't even know they're doing, simply by nature," he added.
Cost Not Relevant
The family explained to Adam the selected educator should ideally also have knowledge of or enthusiasm in horse riding, alpine skiing, creative fields and musical activities so as to shape the child in a wide range of hobbies.
Furthermore though, he said the family hoped the tutor to register the child on a range of courses so the child would be "pony-riding and starting an musical instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's perspective, helping their son grow into a "English gentleman" will bring about achievement and create opportunities.
"Taking into account the pros and cons of that, because it's certainly a status symbol," he notes.
However, despite all this guidance in "English culture", would the child absorb alleged cultural leaning from the multicultural family he is raised by in any case?
"Absolutely", replied Adam. "The parents realize this might not succeed, but they've just taken the view of, 'we should try and we should start as soon as we can', because the price of it is not relevant," he said.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
Several in the private teaching field who express similar doubts.
Peter Cui, head and founder of a tutoring service, who also offer private tutors, stated that "the journey of adopting dual cultures, or indeed, forming one's identity, is something that must be experienced personally, not engineered."
The expert wrote that he had relocated from the Far East to the Britain at the age of childhood, and had been educated experiencing and practicing both cultures. He progressed to learn at Cambridge University.
"The idea that an individual can serve as a representation of English culture, someone who can in some way impart the qualities of a British gentleman onto a one-year-old child, seems to me optimistic and unrealistic," he commented.
"Based on my background, having a distinctly UK tutor from infancy will does not necessarily create the outcome they desire.
"I never had that kind of mentor, and however I have been lucky enough to enjoy several of the experiences they aspire for their son."
He added: "The truth is, self-identity cannot be dictated from the outside; it must be selected, and it must be internally driven."
Buying Britishness
Naturally, UK identity is something Adam hopes can be taught – and sold.
"In my view the situation that the international society views us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
