"Parents residing in North London seeks an exceptional and qualified instructor to guide their smallest child on his first steps to growing into an British gentleman."
Upon seeing this post, you might naturally overlook the term "first-steps" as simple a turn of phrase.
However, it may be the crucial aspect of this unique job advert, as it aims to find a mentor for a one-year-old.
Hundreds of responses have since been sent in since the unidentified family posted their search for the £180k-a-year tutor, who must be "a uniquely qualified person".
Over the last few weeks, the advert has received notice across the media, with numerous asking why?
Innovative Idea
Adam Caller, head and founder of Tutors International, which is helping the family in their search, stated that notwithstanding initial scepticism, he considered the concept "forward-looking", and "innovative".
When he spoke with the family, he said they appreciated the atypical character of their requirement, and how young their son is.
Nevertheless, they clarified that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had held off until their firstborn was five, and by that stage "cultural conditioning had by then become established".
What precisely does the family indicate by "cultural bias"?
It's "all-encompassing", he replied. "The manner you eat, the way you speak".
He said the elder child had adopted "very nuanced, unspoken signals" from the family, and had adopted their cultural ways. The family explained to him they did not want history to recur with their younger child.
The intention: To engage a UK tutor, who needs to speak with standard English accent, to shape the baby right from the beginning.
Natural Absorption
"A lot of the development at the outset here is kind of osmotic," stated the expert.
It's through this natural absorption that the family are expecting the child will pick up the British traits they want to cultivate.
The consultant explained the tutor must be an individual who studied at "the appropriate educational institutions – similar types 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 carrying out things they aren't even aware they're doing, effortlessly," he commented.
Money No Object
The family told the expert the successful candidate should ideally also have understanding of or interest in equestrian activities, winter sports, artistic pursuits and instrumental training so as to shape the child in a broad spectrum of hobbies.
More than that though, he said the family wanted the tutor to sign up the child on a variety of courses so the child would be "horseback riding and picking up an musical instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's minds, guiding their son develop into a "English gentleman" will bring about success and open doors.
"For all the pros and cons of that, because it's definitely a social class indicator," he notes.
Yet, in spite of all this tutelage in "Britishness", might the child absorb what is termed cultural bias from the globally influenced family he lives with regardless?
"Yes", answered the CEO. "The family know this could fail, but they've simply adopted the perspective of, 'we should try and we should start as early as we can', because the expense of it is not relevant," he said.
Overly Optimistic
Several in the private teaching field who express these reservations.
An education leader, head and founder of a tutoring service, who provides personal educators, wrote that "the development of embracing two identities, or in fact, forming one's identity, is something that must be lived into, not manufactured."
Peter wrote that he had moved from Asia to the United Kingdom at the period of 7 years old, and had been brought up understanding and practicing two backgrounds. He went on to learn at a prestigious UK institution.
"The idea that an individual can function as a representation of UK identity, an individual who can in some way transplant the attributes of a British gentleman upon a infant child, seems to me idealistic and unrealistic," he stated.
"Based on my background, having a quintessentially UK tutor from early childhood will not instantly achieve the goal they want.
"I never had that kind of mentor, and yet I have been lucky enough to live numerous of the situations they hope for their son."
He added: "The reality is, personal identity should not be forced from the outside; it must be selected, and it must originate internally."
Acquiring Englishness
Certainly, Britishness is something the expert believes can be instructed – and marketed.
"I believe the situation that the global community holds us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
