"A family located in north London wants to find an exceptional and experienced instructor to support their youngest child on his first steps to becoming an British gentleman."
When reading this listing, you might easily skip the term "first-steps" as simple a turn of phrase.
Yet, it could be the most important part of this unusual employment listing, as it aims to find a mentor for a one-year-old.
Many of submissions have already been sent in since the unnamed family advertised their search for the highly paid tutor, who has to be "an exceptional individual".
During the past few weeks, the listing has gained interest in the news, with several questioning why?
Innovative Idea
Adam Caller, chief executive of a global tutoring firm, which is assisting the family in their hunt, stated that despite early skepticism, he considered the idea "visionary", and "innovative".
When he met the family, he said they recognized the atypical character of their request, and how immature their son is.
But, they explained that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had postponed until their older child was five, and by that point "cultural influence had already taken hold".
But what does the family refer to by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "everything", Adam answered. "The manner you eat, how you speak".
He stated the older sibling had adopted "very nuanced, body language" from the family, and had adopted their cultural ways. The family informed him they wished to avoid the same situation to recur with their younger child.
The intention: To hire a British tutor, who needs to speak with RP, to shape the baby from day one.
Osmotic Learning
"Much of the development at the beginning here is kind of osmotic," said Adam.
It's via this subtle influence that the family are hoping the child will pick up the English characteristics they aim to impart.
The consultant said the tutor must be someone who studied at "prestigious academies – comparable categories of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The tutor simply needs to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be doing things they don't even know they're doing, effortlessly," he commented.
Money No Object
The family informed the expert the successful candidate should preferably also have knowledge of or passion in equestrian activities, skiing, creative fields and music so as to shape the child in a broad spectrum of passions.
Additionally though, he explained the family wanted the tutor to enrol the child on a range of classes so the child would be "equestrian training and picking up an instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's minds, helping their son become a "English gentleman" will lead to achievement and open doors.
"For all the rights and wrongs of that, because it's certainly a status symbol," he notes.
Yet, notwithstanding all this guidance in "UK identity", would the child pick up so-called cultural bias from the multicultural family he is raised by regardless?
"Absolutely", said Adam. "The parents understand this might not succeed, but they've simply adopted the attitude of, 'we should try and we'll proceed as early as we can', because the price of it is irrelevant," he explained.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
A number of in the private teaching field who have those reservations.
Peter Cui, chief executive of an educational organization, who supplies private tutors, commented that "the journey of embracing two identities, or in fact, becoming oneself, is something that must be grown into, not engineered."
Peter explained that he had moved from China to the United Kingdom at the time of childhood, and had been brought up experiencing and embodying dual heritages. He continued to learn at a prestigious UK institution.
"The notion that an individual can act as a embodiment of Britishness, someone who can in some way impart the characteristics of a British gentleman to a infant child, strikes me as optimistic and unrealistic," he wrote.
"From my perspective, employing a distinctly UK tutor from babyhood will will not instantly produce the goal they hope for.
"I wasn't provided with such a tutor, and nevertheless I have been privileged enough to live many of the experiences they aspire for their son."
He added: "The fact is, personal identity cannot be forced from the outside; it must be embraced, and it must come from within."
Purchasing UK Culture
Naturally, English culture is something the expert hopes can be taught – and commercialized.
"I think the situation that the global community regards us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
