"A household based in North London is looking for an exceptional and skilled instructor to assist their youngest child on his early path to becoming an English gentleman."
Upon seeing this listing, you might readily overlook the phrase "first-steps" as mere a turn of phrase.
Yet, it may be the most significant part of this distinctive position posting, as it seeks to recruit a teacher for a 12-month-old.
Hundreds of applications have since been sent in since the anonymous family posted their request for the £180k-a-year tutor, who needs to be "a uniquely qualified person".
In recent few weeks, the post has gained interest across the media, with numerous asking why?
Innovative Idea
The CEO, head and founder of Tutors International, which is helping the family in their search, stated that in spite of early skepticism, he considered the plan "forward-looking", and "progressive".
When he consulted the family, he mentioned they understood the unconventional character of their requirement, and how young their son is.
Nevertheless, they stated that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to get a tutor, as they had postponed until their elder sibling was five, and by that age "cultural influence had already taken hold".
What exactly did the family indicate by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "everything", Adam answered. "How you eat, the way you speak".
He stated the firstborn had adopted "really subtle, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had taken on their cultural norms. The family informed Adam they wished to avoid this pattern to happen again with their new baby.
The strategy: To bring in a UK tutor, who must speak with standard English accent, to shape the baby from day one.
Osmotic Learning
"A great deal of the development at the outset here is somewhat osmotic," said Adam.
It's via this osmosis that the family are hoping the child will pick up the British traits they want to cultivate.
He noted the tutor needed to be someone who studied at "prestigious academies – the same kinds of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The instructor simply needs to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be performing things they aren't even aware they're doing, just naturally," he commented.
Expense Not a Factor
The family told him the successful candidate should ideally also have knowledge of or passion in riding, skiing, the arts and musical activities so as to influence the child in a diverse set of interests.
Furthermore though, he stated the family desired the tutor to register the child on a selection of courses so the child would be "pony-riding and picking up an musical instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's view, assisting their son grow into a "English gentleman" will lead to achievement and create opportunities.
"Taking into account the rights and wrongs of that, because it's undoubtedly a status symbol," he notes.
But, in spite of all this guidance in "Britishness", might the child pick up so-called cultural leaning from the multicultural family he resides with regardless?
"Certainly", said the CEO. "The family know this may not work, but they've merely embraced the perspective of, 'we should try and let's go as quickly as we can', because the cost of it is irrelevant," he said.
Overly Optimistic
A number of in the tutoring industry who share those doubts.
Peter Cui, CEO and founder of a tutoring service, who provides personal educators, commented that "the development of becoming bicultural, or in fact, becoming oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not designed."
The expert wrote that he had moved from Asia to the UK at the time of 7 years old, and had been educated knowing and practicing both cultures. He went on to study at the University of Cambridge.
"The concept that one individual can function as a embodiment of English culture, a person who can somehow transfer the attributes of a British gentleman to a one-year-old child, seems to me idealistic and unfeasible," he wrote.
"In my experience, having a distinctly English tutor from infancy will not instantly create the result they hope for.
"I did not have such a figure, and nevertheless I have been privileged enough to enjoy numerous of the situations they desire for their son."
He stated: "The truth is, cultural identity can not be forced from the outside; it must be embraced, and it must be internally driven."
Purchasing UK Culture
Naturally, Britishness is something Adam hopes can be taught – and marketed.
"In my view the fact that the international society holds us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
