"Parents located in north London is looking for an exceptional and skilled educator to guide their smallest child on his first steps to growing into an British gentleman."
Looking at this listing, you might naturally miss the term "first-steps" as mere an expression.
Yet, it may be the most important part of this unique job advert, as it attempts to find a teacher for a one-year-old.
Hundreds of submissions have now been sent in since the unidentified family advertised their request for the £180,000 per year tutor, who has to be "a uniquely qualified person".
Over the last few weeks, the advert has received interest in the news, with numerous asking why?
Innovative Idea
A tutoring expert, CEO and founder of an education consultancy, which is supporting the family in their search, said that despite initial skepticism, he viewed the idea "forward-looking", and "progressive".
When he spoke with the family, he noted they appreciated the unusual aspect of their request, and how immature their son is.
Nevertheless, they clarified that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to get a tutor, as they had postponed until their older child was five, and by that stage "cultural bias had already set in".
What precisely did the family mean by "cultural leaning"?
It's "everything", Adam answered. "The manner you eat, the way you speak".
He stated the firstborn had picked up "extremely delicate, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had taken on their cultural norms. The family informed Adam they did not want the same situation to repeat itself with their younger child.
The intention: To hire a UK tutor, who should speak with standard English accent, to influence the baby from day one.
Subtle Influence
"Much of the education at the beginning here is kind of osmotic," stated the expert.
It's by means of this osmosis that the family are expecting the child will adopt the UK customs they aim to impart.
The consultant noted the tutor needed to be an individual who attended "the appropriate educational institutions – comparable categories of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The educator just has to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be doing things they aren't even aware they're doing, just naturally," he added.
Cost Not Relevant
The family explained to Adam the chosen tutor should preferably also have familiarity of or passion in riding, alpine skiing, the arts and musical activities so as to shape the child in a broad spectrum of hobbies.
Additionally though, he stated the family desired the tutor to register the child on a range of lessons so the child would be "equestrian training and starting an instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's minds, assisting their son develop into a "UK sophisticate" will lead to achievement and create opportunities.
"Taking into account the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's certainly a social class indicator," he adds.
However, despite all this instruction in "English culture", would the child absorb so-called cultural bias from the globally influenced family he is raised by regardless?
"Certainly", said Adam. "The family know this may not work, but they've just taken the attitude of, 'we should try and we should start as soon as we can', because the cost of it is not relevant," he said.
Impractical
There are some in the tutoring industry who have these doubts.
An education leader, CEO and founder of an educational organization, who also offer personal educators, wrote that "the development of becoming bicultural, or actually, becoming oneself, is something that must be grown into, not designed."
The expert explained that he had moved from China to the Britain at the age of childhood, and had been brought up experiencing and practicing two backgrounds. He continued to learn at the University of Cambridge.
"The idea that one individual can serve as a living vessel of UK identity, an individual who can somehow transfer the characteristics of a English gentleman to a infant child, appears optimistic and unrealistic," he wrote.
"In my experience, engaging a quintessentially English tutor from infancy will does not automatically produce the outcome they desire.
"I wasn't provided with such a tutor, and nevertheless I have been fortunate enough to experience numerous of the situations they hope for their son."
He stated: "The truth is, personal identity cannot be dictated from the external environment; it must be chosen, and it must come from within."
Buying Britishness
Naturally, Britishness is something the expert thinks can be instructed – and marketed.
"In my view the situation that the international society views us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
