"Parents located in the northern part of London seeks an exceptional and experienced educator to support their smallest child on his first steps to growing into an British gentleman."
Looking at this post, you might naturally skip the phrase "first-steps" as mere a turn of phrase.
But, it could be the most significant aspect of this distinctive employment listing, as it seeks to hire a tutor for a one-year-old.
Many of submissions have since been submitted since the unidentified family published their call for the highly paid tutor, who has to be "someone very special".
In recent few weeks, the listing has received notice in the news, with several wondering why?
Forward-Thinking Method
Adam Caller, CEO and founder of an education consultancy, which is supporting the family in their search, stated that in spite of early skepticism, he viewed the plan "far sighted", and "advanced".
When he spoke with the family, he noted they understood the atypical character of their demand, and how young their son is.
But, they clarified that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had postponed until their elder sibling was five, and by that point "cultural bias had already become established".
But what did the family indicate by "cultural leaning"?
It's "everything", Adam responded. "How you eat, the manner you speak".
He stated the older sibling had adopted "really subtle, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had adopted their cultural habits. The family explained to the consultant they wished to avoid the same situation to repeat itself with their infant.
The strategy: To hire a UK tutor, who must speak with RP, to guide the baby from day one.
Osmotic Learning
"A lot of the development at the beginning here is kind of acquired indirectly," explained the CEO.
It's by means of this osmosis that the family are hoping the child will acquire the UK customs they want to impart.
Adam explained the tutor needed to be someone who studied at "the right kinds of schools – similar types of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The tutor just has to be the suitable individual, they'll be performing things they aren't even aware they're doing, just naturally," he commented.
Expense Not a Factor
The family told Adam the successful candidate should preferably also have knowledge of or passion in riding, skiing, the arts and musical activities so as to influence the child in a wide range of hobbies.
Furthermore though, he said the family hoped the tutor to enrol the child on a variety of classes so the child would be "pony-riding and picking up an musical instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's view, helping their son develop into a "British gentleman" will bring about accomplishment and open doors.
"For all the pros and cons of that, because it's certainly a social class indicator," he notes.
However, in spite of all this tutelage in "Britishness", might the child absorb alleged cultural leaning from the international family he resides with anyway?
"Yes", said he. "They understand this might not succeed, but they've just taken the perspective of, 'we should try and let's go as early as we can', because the price of it is not relevant," he stated.
Overly Optimistic
Several in the tutoring industry who share similar doubts.
Another CEO, head and founder of an educational organization, who also offer private tutors, stated that "the journey of adopting dual cultures, or in fact, becoming oneself, is something that must be lived into, not designed."
The expert wrote that he had relocated from Asia to the Britain at the time of childhood, and had been raised understanding and living dual heritages. He progressed to be educated at the University of Cambridge.
"The idea that an individual can serve as a embodiment of Britishness, an individual who can in some way transplant the qualities of a English gentleman to a one-year-old child, strikes me as optimistic and unrealistic," he commented.
"In my experience, having a quintessentially UK tutor from babyhood will will not necessarily achieve the outcome they want.
"I wasn't provided with that kind of mentor, and however I have been privileged enough to enjoy several of the situations they desire for their son."
He added: "The reality is, cultural identity cannot be forced from the external environment; it must be selected, and it must come from within."
Buying Britishness
Certainly, Britishness is something Adam believes can be educated – and sold.
"I think the reality that the international society views us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
