"A family based in North London is looking for an remarkable and skilled tutor to assist their smallest child on his first steps to growing into an English gentleman."
Upon seeing this advertisement, you might easily skip the term "first-steps" as simple a turn of phrase.
But, it might be the most important aspect of this unique position posting, as it seeks to recruit a mentor for a 12-month-old.
Many of applications have now been received since the unidentified family advertised their request for the £180k-a-year tutor, who has to be "someone very special".
In recent few weeks, the post has received attention throughout the news, with several questioning why?
Forward-Thinking Method
A tutoring expert, CEO and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is helping the family in their search, explained that in spite of initial skepticism, he considered the plan "far sighted", and "innovative".
When he spoke with the family, he said they appreciated the unusual character of their demand, and how young their son is.
But, they clarified that they "preferred not to postpone 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".
What exactly did the family mean by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "everything", the expert responded. "How you eat, how you speak".
He stated the older sibling had picked up "extremely delicate, body language" from the family, and had taken on their cultural ways. The family informed him they hoped to prevent history to happen again with their infant.
The plan: To engage a UK tutor, who should speak with RP, to shape the baby from the very start.
Natural Absorption
"A great deal of the education at the beginning here is rather acquired indirectly," explained the expert.
It's through this osmosis that the family are hoping the child will acquire the UK customs they wish to instil.
He noted the tutor needed to be somebody who went to "prestigious academies – comparable categories of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The instructor just has to be the right kind of person, they'll be performing things they don't even know they're doing, just naturally," he added.
Cost Not Relevant
The family informed Adam the successful candidate should preferably also have understanding of or interest in horse riding, alpine skiing, creative fields and music so as to shape the child in a wide range of interests.
Furthermore though, he said the family desired the tutor to enrol the child on a variety of lessons so the child would be "equestrian training and picking up an instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's minds, guiding their son grow into a "UK sophisticate" will bring about success and open doors.
"Taking into account the pros and cons of that, because it's definitely a social class indicator," he adds.
But, notwithstanding all this guidance in "Britishness", would the child pick up alleged cultural bias from the multicultural family he lives with anyway?
"Absolutely", replied he. "The family realize this could fail, but they've merely embraced the view of, 'let's give it a go and we'll proceed as quickly as we can', because the cost of it is not relevant," he said.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
There are some in the education sector who express similar concerns.
Peter Cui, head and founder of Blue Education, who supplies personal educators, commented that "the development of becoming bicultural, or indeed, discovering oneself, is something that must be grown into, not manufactured."
Peter noted that he had relocated from the Far East to the UK at the age of childhood, and had been brought up understanding and living both cultures. He continued to be educated at the University of Cambridge.
"The idea that an individual can function as a representation of Britishness, a person who can somehow transfer the characteristics of a British gentleman onto a 12-month-old child, appears naive and unfeasible," he wrote.
"In my experience, employing a distinctly UK tutor from early childhood will does not automatically achieve the result they want.
"I wasn't provided with such a tutor, and however I have been privileged enough to enjoy numerous of the opportunities they desire for their son."
He continued: "The fact is, self-identity cannot be forced from the outside; it must be selected, and it must be internally driven."
Buying Britishness
Naturally, UK identity is something the expert thinks can be educated – and sold.
"I believe the fact that the global community holds us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
