"A family residing in the northern part of London wants to find an extraordinary and experienced tutor to assist their youngest child on his first steps to growing into an British gentleman."
Looking at this advertisement, you might readily miss the term "first-steps" as simple figurative language.
However, it may be the most important element of this unique job advert, as it attempts to find a teacher for a one-year-old.
Hundreds of applications have already been sent in since the unnamed family advertised their request for the highly paid tutor, who needs to be "an exceptional individual".
Over the last few weeks, the advert has gained attention throughout the media, with numerous questioning why?
Progressive Approach
A tutoring expert, head and founder of Tutors International, which is supporting the family in their quest, explained that in spite of initial skepticism, he found the idea "forward-looking", and "progressive".
When he spoke with the family, he noted they recognized the unconventional nature of their demand, and how immature their son is.
However, they clarified that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had held off until their firstborn was five, and by that stage "cultural influence had already taken hold".
But what did the family indicate by "cultural leaning"?
It's "all-encompassing", the expert responded. "How you eat, how you speak".
He explained the firstborn had absorbed "extremely delicate, unspoken signals" from the family, and had taken on their cultural ways. The family told him they did not want the same situation to recur with their younger child.
The plan: To engage a UK tutor, who should speak with Received Pronunciation, to guide the baby from day one.
Subtle Influence
"A lot of the education at the start here is rather absorbed naturally," stated the CEO.
It's through this natural absorption that the family are expecting the child will adopt the UK customs they wish to cultivate.
He explained the tutor must be somebody who attended "the appropriate educational institutions – comparable categories of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The educator must be the right kind of person, they'll be performing things they aren't even aware they're doing, just naturally," he said.
Money No Object
The family explained to Adam the successful candidate should ideally also have understanding of or interest in horse riding, skiing, the arts and instrumental training so as to shape the child in a wide range of passions.
More than that though, he said the family wanted the tutor to register the child on a selection of classes so the child would be "equestrian training and learning an tool by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's view, assisting their son develop into a "English gentleman" will lead to success and open doors.
"Considering the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's certainly a class statement," he notes.
But, in spite of all this guidance in "UK identity", would the child absorb so-called cultural bias from the multicultural family he resides with in any case?
"Absolutely", said he. "The family understand this could fail, but they've simply adopted the attitude of, 'why not attempt it and we should start as early as we can', because the price of it is not a concern," he said.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
Several in the education sector who express these doubts.
Another CEO, chief executive of Blue Education, who supplies private tutors, wrote that "the process of adopting dual cultures, or actually, discovering oneself, is something that must be lived into, not engineered."
He wrote that he had relocated from Asia to the UK at the time of 7 years old, and had been brought up understanding and living two backgrounds. He went on to learn at Cambridge University.
"The idea that a single person can serve as a living vessel of UK identity, someone who can in some way transfer the attributes of a British gentleman to a one-year-old child, strikes me as optimistic and impractical," he stated.
"In my experience, employing a quintessentially UK tutor from infancy will not instantly create the outcome they desire.
"I did not have such a figure, and however I have been privileged enough to enjoy several of the experiences they hope for their son."
He added: "The reality is, personal identity can not be imposed from the external environment; it must be chosen, and it must be internally driven."
Purchasing UK Culture
Of course, English culture is something Adam thinks can be instructed – and sold.
"In my view the reality that the international society regards us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
