"A household residing in north London seeks an remarkable and skilled tutor to guide their most junior child on his first steps to becoming an British gentleman."
When reading this listing, you might naturally skip the phrase "first-steps" as mere a turn of phrase.
But, it may be the most significant aspect of this unique position posting, as it aims to recruit a tutor for a 12-month-old.
Hundreds of responses have since been submitted since the anonymous family published their request for the highly paid tutor, who needs to be "an exceptional individual".
In recent few weeks, the advert has received notice throughout the press, with several asking why?
Innovative Idea
Adam Caller, CEO and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is assisting the family in their hunt, stated that despite early skepticism, he found the plan "forward-looking", and "progressive".
When he consulted the family, he mentioned they recognized the unusual aspect of their request, and how immature their son is.
Nevertheless, they explained that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to get a tutor, as they had waited until their firstborn was five, and by that stage "cultural bias had already become established".
But what does the family mean by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "comprehensive", Adam responded. "The manner you eat, the way you speak".
He stated the older sibling had absorbed "really subtle, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had adopted their cultural habits. The family explained to Adam they wished to avoid the same situation to recur with their new baby.
The plan: To engage a British tutor, who should speak with Received Pronunciation, to influence the baby right from the beginning.
Natural Absorption
"A great deal of the learning at the outset here is rather acquired indirectly," explained the expert.
It's by means of this subtle influence that the family are hoping the child will pick up the British traits they want to cultivate.
Adam said the tutor needed to be somebody who attended "prestigious academies – similar types of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The educator must be the right kind of person, they'll be doing things they aren't even aware they're doing, just naturally," he added.
Cost Not Relevant
The family informed Adam the chosen tutor should preferably also have familiarity of or enthusiasm in horse riding, alpine skiing, artistic pursuits and musical activities so as to influence the child in a wide range of passions.
Additionally though, he stated the family desired the tutor to enrol the child on a selection 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 perspective, helping their son develop into a "English gentleman" will bring about achievement and provide access.
"Taking into account the rights and wrongs of that, because it's certainly a status symbol," he adds.
But, notwithstanding all this instruction in "Britishness", would the child pick up what is termed cultural influence from the multicultural family he resides with regardless?
"Certainly", replied the CEO. "The family know this could fail, but they've merely embraced the view of, 'let's give it a go and we'll proceed as soon as we can', because the cost of it is not relevant," he stated.
Impractical
A number of in the education sector who express these doubts.
Another CEO, chief executive of an educational organization, who provides individual instructors, wrote that "the development of adopting dual cultures, or in fact, discovering oneself, is something that must be grown into, not designed."
The expert wrote that he had emigrated from Asia to the UK at the age of childhood, and had been brought up experiencing and living two backgrounds. He went on to learn at Cambridge University.
"The notion that one individual can act as a living vessel of Britishness, a person who can in some way impart the qualities of a British gentleman to a one-year-old child, strikes me as idealistic and unfeasible," he commented.
"In my experience, having a quintessentially English tutor from babyhood will will not instantly achieve the result they desire.
"I never had such a figure, and nevertheless I have been fortunate enough to experience several of the opportunities they hope for their son."
He stated: "The reality is, cultural identity cannot be forced from the outside; it must be selected, and it must come from within."
Acquiring Englishness
Naturally, English culture is something the expert thinks can be educated – and commercialized.
"I believe the fact that the international society holds us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
