"Parents residing in the northern part of London wants to find an exceptional and qualified educator to guide their youngest child on his first steps to growing into an British gentleman."
Upon seeing this post, you might readily overlook the phrase "first-steps" as mere a turn of phrase.
Yet, it could be the most significant part of this unique position posting, as it aims to hire a teacher for a one-year-old.
Many of responses have since been received since the anonymous family published their request for the £180k-a-year tutor, who needs to be "a uniquely qualified person".
Over the last few weeks, the advert has gained interest across the news, with several wondering why?
Innovative Idea
The CEO, CEO and founder of Tutors International, which is supporting the family in their quest, said that notwithstanding early scepticism, he found the plan "visionary", and "innovative".
When he spoke with the family, he noted they understood the unusual character of their demand, and how young their son is.
But, they clarified that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had waited until their elder sibling was five, and by that age "cultural influence had by then become established".
What precisely does the family mean by "cultural bias"?
It's "comprehensive", he replied. "The manner you eat, how you speak".
He explained the firstborn had picked up "extremely delicate, body language" from the family, and had adopted their cultural norms. The family told Adam they wished to avoid history to recur with their younger child.
The plan: To engage a UK tutor, who needs to speak with Received Pronunciation, to guide the baby from the very start.
Subtle Influence
"Much of the development at the outset here is kind of acquired indirectly," stated the CEO.
It's by means of this subtle influence that the family are expecting the child will pick up the British traits they want to cultivate.
Adam explained the tutor must be someone who attended "the right kinds of schools – the same kinds of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The tutor just has to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be carrying out things they may not realize they're doing, effortlessly," he added.
Expense Not a Factor
The family told him the chosen tutor should ideally also have knowledge of or interest in equestrian activities, skiing, artistic pursuits and instrumental training so as to inspire the child in a wide range of passions.
More than that though, he stated the family hoped the tutor to enrol the child on a range of courses so the child would be "horseback riding and picking up an musical instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's minds, guiding their son become a "English gentleman" will result in success and create opportunities.
"For all the rights and wrongs of that, because it's definitely a status symbol," he comments.
However, notwithstanding all this instruction in "Britishness", might the child absorb so-called cultural leaning from the globally influenced family he is raised by anyway?
"Certainly", replied the CEO. "The parents know this might not succeed, but they've just taken the attitude of, 'why not attempt it and we should start as early as we can', because the cost of it is irrelevant," he said.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
There are some in the education sector who have those concerns.
Peter Cui, CEO and founder of a tutoring service, who provides individual instructors, wrote that "the development of becoming bicultural, or indeed, discovering oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not designed."
The expert noted that he had relocated from China to the UK at the period of 7 years old, and had been brought up experiencing and embodying dual heritages. He progressed to be educated at a prestigious UK institution.
"The concept that an individual can act as a living vessel of UK identity, someone who can possibly transplant the attributes of a British gentleman upon a infant child, seems to me optimistic and unrealistic," he commented.
"From my perspective, employing a typically English tutor from infancy will will not automatically achieve the outcome they hope for.
"I wasn't provided with such a tutor, and however I have been lucky enough to live many of the situations they hope for their son."
He added: "The fact is, self-identity can not be dictated from the outside; it must be embraced, and it must originate internally."
Buying Britishness
Certainly, UK identity is something the CEO hopes can be educated – and marketed.
"I believe the reality that the world regards us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
