"A household based in north London seeks an exceptional and experienced educator to guide their smallest child on his first steps to turning into an British gentleman."
Looking at this post, you might easily miss the term "first-steps" as mere a turn of phrase.
However, it might be the most significant aspect of this unique job advert, as it aims to recruit a teacher for a infant.
Numerous of responses have since been received since the anonymous family advertised their search for the highly paid tutor, who must be "a uniquely qualified person".
In recent few weeks, the listing has gained interest in the press, with many wondering why?
Progressive Approach
Adam Caller, head and founder of Tutors International, which is helping the family in their search, stated that despite initial skepticism, he considered the idea "far sighted", and "innovative".
When he met the family, he noted they recognized the unusual nature of their demand, and how early in age their son is.
But, they stated that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to get a tutor, as they had waited until their firstborn was five, and by that age "cultural bias had by then set in".
But what did the family refer to by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "all-encompassing", he replied. "How you eat, the manner you speak".
He said the elder child had picked up "really subtle, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had assumed their cultural norms. The family explained to the consultant they wished to avoid the same situation to repeat itself with their infant.
The intention: To bring in a UK tutor, who needs to speak with RP, to guide the baby from the very start.
Natural Absorption
"A great deal of the development at the outset here is kind of acquired indirectly," said the CEO.
It's through this osmosis that the family are expecting the child will pick up the British traits they aim to cultivate.
The consultant noted the tutor had to be someone who studied at "prestigious academies – similar types of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The instructor must be the appropriate candidate, they'll be doing things they aren't even aware they're doing, just naturally," he commented.
Cost Not Relevant
The family explained to the expert the selected educator should ideally also have knowledge of or passion in riding, alpine skiing, the arts and music so as to shape the child in a broad spectrum of hobbies.
More than that though, he stated the family hoped the tutor to sign up the child on a range of lessons so the child would be "pony-riding and starting an instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's view, assisting their son become a "UK sophisticate" will bring about achievement and open doors.
"For all the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's definitely a status symbol," he adds.
But, in spite of all this tutelage in "Britishness", could the child adopt alleged cultural bias from the multicultural family he resides with anyway?
"Absolutely", answered Adam. "The parents realize this might not succeed, but they've just taken the perspective of, 'let's give it a go and let's go as quickly as we can', because the expense of it is not relevant," he stated.
Impractical
Several in the private teaching field who express those doubts.
An education leader, CEO and founder of Blue Education, who provides individual instructors, commented that "the development of adopting dual cultures, or actually, discovering oneself, is something that must be grown into, not manufactured."
Peter wrote that he had relocated from the Far East to the UK at the time of childhood, and had been educated experiencing and living dual heritages. He went on to be educated at the University of Cambridge.
"The concept that one individual can function as a representation of English culture, a person who can in some way transplant the qualities of a UK sophisticate upon a infant child, appears naive and unrealistic," he wrote.
"From my perspective, having a distinctly British tutor from early childhood will does not necessarily achieve the outcome they desire.
"I wasn't provided with that kind of mentor, and however I have been fortunate enough to experience numerous of the opportunities they desire for their son."
He continued: "The truth is, self-identity should not be dictated from the external environment; it must be selected, and it must come from within."
Buying Britishness
Of course, UK identity is something the expert hopes can be instructed – and commercialized.
"I believe the situation that the international society regards us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
