"A household based in North London seeks an remarkable and experienced tutor to support their smallest child on his first steps to turning into an British gentleman."
Upon seeing this post, you might easily skip the wording "first-steps" as mere a turn of phrase.
But, it might be the crucial aspect of this unusual job advert, as it aims to recruit a teacher for a one-year-old.
Numerous of applications have now been submitted since the unnamed family posted their request for the £180k-a-year tutor, who has to be "someone very special".
In recent few weeks, the advert has attracted interest across the news, with numerous wondering why?
Forward-Thinking Method
Adam Caller, head and founder of an education consultancy, which is assisting the family in their search, said that in spite of early skepticism, he considered the concept "far sighted", and "innovative".
When he met the family, he mentioned they appreciated the atypical nature of their requirement, and how early in age their son is.
However, they explained that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to get a tutor, as they had held off until their elder sibling was five, and by that point "cultural influence had by then become established".
What exactly did the family mean by "cultural leaning"?
It's "comprehensive", the expert answered. "The manner you eat, the manner you speak".
He said the firstborn had picked up "extremely delicate, body language" from the family, and had taken on their cultural habits. The family explained to the consultant they did not want this pattern to repeat itself with their new baby.
The plan: To hire a UK tutor, who must speak with RP, to guide the baby from the very start.
Natural Absorption
"A great deal of the development at the beginning here is kind of absorbed naturally," said the expert.
It's by means of this osmosis that the family are expecting the child will adopt the British traits they want to cultivate.
He said the tutor had to be an individual who went to "the right kinds of schools – comparable categories of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The educator just has to be the right kind of person, they'll be performing things they may not realize they're doing, just naturally," he commented.
Cost Not Relevant
The family told Adam the successful candidate should ideally also have familiarity of or interest in horse riding, alpine skiing, creative fields and music so as to influence the child in a diverse set of hobbies.
Furthermore though, he explained the family wanted the tutor to register the child on a range of lessons so the child would be "pony-riding and picking up an instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's minds, helping their son become a "UK sophisticate" will result in achievement and open doors.
"Taking into account the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's undoubtedly a class statement," he adds.
However, despite all this guidance in "UK identity", would the child absorb so-called cultural leaning from the international family he is raised by regardless?
"Certainly", said the CEO. "They understand this may not work, but they've just taken the attitude of, 'why not attempt it and we should start as early as we can', because the price of it is not a concern," he stated.
Overly Optimistic
Several in the tutoring industry who share these reservations.
Another CEO, head and founder of an educational organization, who supplies personal educators, commented that "the development of embracing two identities, or actually, discovering oneself, is something that must be grown into, not designed."
He wrote that he had moved from the Far East to the UK at the time of childhood, and had been brought up understanding and practicing dual heritages. He went on to learn at a prestigious UK institution.
"The concept that one individual can function as a living vessel of UK identity, a person who can possibly transfer the qualities of a English gentleman upon a one-year-old child, seems to me idealistic and unrealistic," he wrote.
"From my perspective, engaging a distinctly English tutor from babyhood will not automatically achieve the outcome they want.
"I wasn't provided with such a tutor, and nevertheless I have been privileged enough to experience several of the situations they hope for their son."
He added: "The fact is, self-identity cannot be imposed from the outside; it must be chosen, and it must originate internally."
Buying Britishness
Naturally, Britishness is something the CEO thinks can be educated – and sold.
"I believe the reality that the world regards us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
