"A household residing in the northern part of London seeks an exceptional and qualified tutor to support their youngest child on his first steps to becoming an English gentleman."
Upon seeing this post, you might easily skip the phrase "first-steps" as just a turn of phrase.
But, it may be the crucial aspect of this unique employment listing, as it seeks to hire a tutor for a infant.
Many of applications have now been received since the anonymous family posted their search for the £180k-a-year tutor, who must be "a uniquely qualified person".
Over the last few weeks, the listing has attracted notice across the news, with many wondering why?
Progressive Approach
The CEO, CEO and founder of an education consultancy, which is assisting the family in their hunt, stated that in spite of initial skepticism, he found the idea "visionary", and "advanced".
When he met the family, he said they appreciated the unusual aspect of their requirement, and how young their son is.
However, they stated that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had waited until their older child was five, and by that age "cultural conditioning had already taken hold".
But what did the family mean by "cultural leaning"?
It's "comprehensive", he answered. "The way you eat, how you speak".
He stated the firstborn had absorbed "really subtle, unspoken signals" from the family, and had assumed their cultural ways. The family informed the consultant they hoped to prevent history to repeat itself with their infant.
The intention: To hire a British tutor, who must speak with standard English accent, to guide the baby from the very start.
Natural Absorption
"A lot of the learning at the beginning here is somewhat acquired indirectly," stated the CEO.
It's through this osmosis that the family are aiming the child will pick up the UK customs they aim to impart.
He said the tutor needed to be an individual who attended "the right kinds of schools – comparable categories of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The instructor just has to be the right kind of person, they'll be carrying out things they aren't even aware they're doing, simply by nature," he added.
Cost Not Relevant
The family informed Adam the successful candidate should preferably also have knowledge of or interest in horse riding, alpine skiing, the arts and music so as to influence the child in a broad spectrum of interests.
Additionally though, he stated the family desired the tutor to enrol the child on a variety of classes so the child would be "pony-riding and picking up an instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's perspective, helping their son become a "UK sophisticate" will result in success and provide access.
"For all the rights and wrongs of that, because it's certainly a social class indicator," he adds.
However, despite all this guidance in "Britishness", would the child pick up alleged cultural bias from the globally influenced family he is raised by in any case?
"Certainly", replied he. "They know this might not succeed, but they've merely embraced the view of, 'let's give it a go and let's go as soon as we can', because the price of it is irrelevant," he said.
Impractical
Several in the education sector who have similar reservations.
Another CEO, chief executive of Blue Education, who also offer private tutors, commented that "the process of becoming bicultural, or actually, discovering oneself, is something that must be grown into, not designed."
The expert wrote that he had moved from Asia to the United Kingdom at the time of 7 years old, and had been educated understanding and embodying both cultures. He continued to learn at the University of Cambridge.
"The concept that an individual can function as a embodiment of UK identity, a person who can in some way transfer the characteristics of a English gentleman to a one-year-old child, appears naive and unfeasible," he commented.
"From my perspective, employing a quintessentially British tutor from early childhood will will not automatically achieve the goal they hope for.
"I never had such a tutor, and nevertheless I have been privileged enough to live numerous of the opportunities they aspire for their son."
He continued: "The reality is, cultural identity should not be imposed from the outside; it must be embraced, and it must originate internally."
Purchasing UK Culture
Of course, UK identity is something the expert believes can be instructed – and commercialized.
"In my view the reality that the global community views us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
