"Parents residing in north London seeks an extraordinary and experienced educator to support their smallest child on his first steps to growing into an British gentleman."
Looking at this listing, you might easily skip the wording "first-steps" as mere an expression.
However, it may be the crucial element of this distinctive position posting, as it seeks to hire a tutor for a 12-month-old.
Numerous of submissions have now been submitted since the unidentified family advertised their search for the highly paid tutor, who has to be "an exceptional individual".
Over the last few weeks, the advert has attracted interest throughout the news, with many questioning why?
Forward-Thinking Method
Adam Caller, head and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is supporting the family in their search, explained that despite initial doubt, he considered the plan "far sighted", and "advanced".
When he met the family, he mentioned they understood the unconventional character of their demand, and how immature their son is.
Nevertheless, they explained that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had waited until their firstborn was five, and by that age "cultural conditioning had by then taken hold".
What precisely did the family indicate by "cultural bias"?
It's "comprehensive", Adam replied. "The manner you eat, the way you speak".
He said the elder child had absorbed "extremely delicate, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had taken on their cultural ways. The family told him they hoped to prevent this pattern to happen again with their younger child.
The strategy: To bring in a English tutor, who needs to speak with standard English accent, to guide the baby right from the beginning.
Subtle Influence
"A great deal of the education at the beginning here is somewhat osmotic," said the CEO.
It's via this natural absorption that the family are hoping the child will pick up the British traits they wish to impart.
Adam said the tutor had to be an individual who went to "the right kinds of schools – the same kinds of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The educator just has to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be performing things they don't even know they're doing, effortlessly," he commented.
Money No Object
The family informed Adam the successful candidate should ideally also have understanding of or enthusiasm in riding, skiing, the arts and music so as to shape the child in a broad spectrum of interests.
Furthermore though, he explained the family hoped the tutor to sign up the child on a selection of classes so the child would be "horseback riding and learning an tool by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's perspective, guiding their son become a "UK sophisticate" will bring about accomplishment and provide access.
"For all the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's undoubtedly a status symbol," he comments.
Yet, despite all this instruction in "English culture", would the child absorb what is termed cultural bias from the multicultural family he lives with anyway?
"Yes", replied Adam. "They understand this may not work, but they've simply adopted the attitude of, 'why not attempt it and we'll proceed as early as we can', because the price of it is irrelevant," he stated.
Overly Optimistic
There are some in the tutoring industry who express those reservations.
Peter Cui, chief executive of a tutoring service, who provides individual instructors, commented that "the process of embracing two identities, or indeed, discovering oneself, is something that must be grown into, not engineered."
He noted that he had emigrated from Asia to the UK at the time of seven, and had been brought up knowing and living both cultures. He progressed to learn at the University of Cambridge.
"The idea that a single person can function as a embodiment of English culture, a person who can somehow transplant the attributes of a English gentleman upon a infant child, strikes me as naive and unfeasible," he stated.
"In my experience, having a distinctly British tutor from infancy will not necessarily achieve the result they hope for.
"I wasn't provided with such a tutor, and yet I have been lucky enough to enjoy many of the opportunities they aspire for their son."
He added: "The fact is, personal identity cannot be imposed from the outside influences; it must be chosen, and it must come from within."
Acquiring Englishness
Of course, UK identity is something the CEO believes can be taught – and commercialized.
"I think the reality that the global community views us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
