"Parents residing in north London wants to find an extraordinary and experienced educator to guide their most junior child on his first steps to becoming an English gentleman."
Upon seeing this post, you might naturally skip the phrase "first-steps" as just a turn of phrase.
But, it may be the most significant part of this unusual position posting, as it seeks to hire a tutor for a one-year-old.
Numerous of submissions have already been received since the unidentified family published their search for the £180k-a-year tutor, who must be "a uniquely qualified person".
In recent few weeks, the post has attracted attention in the media, with numerous wondering why?
Progressive Approach
The CEO, chief executive of a global tutoring firm, which is assisting the family in their search, explained that in spite of initial doubt, he viewed the plan "forward-looking", and "innovative".
When he met the family, he mentioned they understood the unusual character of their requirement, and how immature their son is.
Nevertheless, they explained that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had postponed until their older child was five, and by that point "cultural bias had already taken hold".
What precisely does the family refer to by "cultural leaning"?
It's "everything", Adam answered. "The manner you eat, the way you speak".
He said the firstborn had picked up "very nuanced, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had taken on their cultural ways. The family told him they wished to avoid history to repeat itself with their new baby.
The strategy: To hire a British tutor, who must speak with Received Pronunciation, to guide the baby right from the beginning.
Osmotic Learning
"A great deal of the learning at the outset here is kind of acquired indirectly," said the expert.
It's by means of this subtle influence that the family are expecting the child will adopt the British traits they want to impart.
The consultant said the tutor needed to be somebody who studied at "prestigious academies – similar types of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The tutor must be the suitable individual, they'll be carrying out things they may not realize they're doing, simply by nature," he added.
Expense Not a Factor
The family told him the chosen tutor should ideally also have knowledge of or enthusiasm in horse riding, winter sports, creative fields and instrumental training so as to shape the child in a broad spectrum of passions.
Additionally though, he stated the family wanted the tutor to sign up the child on a selection of courses so the child would be "equestrian training and picking up an tool by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's perspective, helping their son develop into a "British gentleman" will lead to accomplishment and open doors.
"Considering the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's definitely a social class indicator," he notes.
But, in spite of all this guidance in "English culture", would the child adopt alleged cultural leaning from the globally influenced family he is raised by anyway?
"Absolutely", answered the CEO. "The family know this may not work, but they've simply adopted the view of, 'let's give it a go and we should start as early as we can', because the expense of it is not a concern," he said.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
There are some in the education sector who have these concerns.
Peter Cui, chief executive of an educational organization, who supplies private tutors, wrote that "the process of becoming bicultural, or in fact, becoming oneself, is something that must be grown into, not engineered."
The expert wrote that he had emigrated from China to the United Kingdom at the period of seven, and had been brought up experiencing and embodying two backgrounds. He went on to study at Cambridge University.
"The idea that an individual can function as a living vessel of UK identity, an individual who can possibly transfer the qualities of a British gentleman onto a one-year-old child, appears optimistic and unfeasible," he stated.
"From my perspective, employing a typically British tutor from infancy will not automatically achieve the result they desire.
"I never had such a tutor, and however I have been fortunate enough to live numerous of the situations they hope for their son."
He continued: "The fact is, self-identity cannot be dictated from the outside; it must be chosen, and it must originate internally."
Acquiring Englishness
Of course, English culture is something Adam believes can be instructed – and marketed.
"I think the fact that the international society views us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
