"A household residing in north London seeks an exceptional and qualified educator to support their smallest child on his first steps to becoming an English gentleman."
Looking at this advertisement, you might easily skip the term "first-steps" as mere an expression.
But, it could be the most important part of this unusual position posting, as it aims to find a tutor for a one-year-old.
Numerous of applications have already been sent in since the anonymous family posted their call for the £180k-a-year tutor, who needs to be "someone very special".
In recent few weeks, the post has gained notice in the media, with several wondering why?
Innovative Idea
The CEO, head and founder of an education consultancy, which is assisting the family in their hunt, said that notwithstanding initial scepticism, he found the plan "far sighted", and "innovative".
When he consulted the family, he noted they appreciated the unusual aspect of their demand, and how early in age their son is.
But, they clarified that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to get a tutor, as they had waited until their firstborn was five, and by that point "cultural bias had by then set in".
But what does the family mean by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "comprehensive", Adam responded. "How you eat, how you speak".
He said the older sibling had adopted "very nuanced, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had taken on their cultural habits. The family explained to him they hoped to prevent the same situation to recur with their new baby.
The strategy: To bring in a English tutor, who needs to speak with standard English accent, to guide the baby right from the beginning.
Natural Absorption
"Much of the education at the beginning here is somewhat absorbed naturally," explained the CEO.
It's via this subtle influence that the family are hoping the child will acquire the UK customs they wish to cultivate.
He noted the tutor had to be someone who attended "prestigious academies – comparable categories of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The instructor just has to be the right kind of person, they'll be doing things they may not realize they're doing, effortlessly," he said.
Expense Not a Factor
The family told the expert the selected educator should ideally also have familiarity of or passion in riding, alpine skiing, artistic pursuits and music so as to shape the child in a diverse set of interests.
Furthermore though, he explained the family wanted the tutor to enrol the child on a range of courses 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, guiding their son become a "UK sophisticate" will result in success and provide access.
"Taking into account the pros and cons of that, because it's undoubtedly a status symbol," he adds.
However, despite all this guidance in "Britishness", would the child adopt so-called cultural leaning from the multicultural family he lives with anyway?
"Certainly", said Adam. "The family understand this might not succeed, but they've just taken the view of, 'why not attempt it and we'll proceed as early as we can', because the cost of it is not relevant," he explained.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
A number of in the tutoring industry who express those concerns.
Another CEO, CEO and founder of Blue Education, who supplies individual instructors, wrote that "the process of adopting dual cultures, or in fact, discovering oneself, is something that must be lived into, not manufactured."
The expert explained that he had relocated from China to the UK at the period of seven, and had been brought up understanding and embodying both cultures. He went on to be educated at the University of Cambridge.
"The idea that a single person can serve as a representation of Britishness, an individual who can possibly transfer the qualities of a English gentleman onto a infant child, appears optimistic and unrealistic," he stated.
"From my perspective, employing a quintessentially English tutor from babyhood will will not automatically create the goal they desire.
"I never had such a tutor, and however I have been lucky enough to enjoy several of the situations they desire for their son."
He stated: "The truth is, personal identity should not be imposed from the outside; it must be chosen, and it must be internally driven."
Buying Britishness
Certainly, English culture is something the CEO thinks can be instructed – and marketed.
"I believe the fact that the global community views us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
