"A household located in North London seeks an extraordinary and skilled educator to assist their most junior child on his first steps to growing into an British gentleman."
Looking at this advertisement, you might naturally miss the phrase "first-steps" as just a turn of phrase.
However, it might be the most significant aspect of this unique position posting, as it attempts to hire a tutor for a one-year-old.
Numerous of applications have since been sent in since the unnamed family advertised their call for the £180k-a-year tutor, who needs to be "an exceptional individual".
In recent few weeks, the post has attracted interest across the news, with many asking why?
Progressive Approach
Adam Caller, CEO and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is helping the family in their search, said that notwithstanding initial skepticism, he viewed the concept "forward-looking", and "innovative".
When he spoke with the family, he noted they understood the unusual nature of their request, and how early in age their son is.
But, they clarified that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had held off until their elder sibling was five, and by that stage "cultural bias had already set in".
But what did the family mean by "cultural bias"?
It's "all-encompassing", the expert replied. "The manner you eat, how you speak".
He explained the firstborn had absorbed "very nuanced, unspoken signals" from the family, and had taken on their cultural norms. The family explained to the consultant they hoped to prevent this pattern to repeat itself with their infant.
The plan: To bring in a English tutor, who must speak with standard English accent, to guide the baby from day one.
Natural Absorption
"Much of the learning at the start here is rather osmotic," stated the CEO.
It's via this natural absorption that the family are hoping the child will acquire the English characteristics they wish to cultivate.
The consultant explained the tutor had to be someone who went to "the appropriate educational institutions – the same kinds of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The instructor just has to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be performing things they aren't even aware they're doing, simply by nature," he commented.
Money No Object
The family explained to the expert the chosen tutor should ideally also have understanding of or passion in horse riding, winter sports, creative fields and musical activities so as to shape the child in a wide range of hobbies.
Additionally though, he explained the family wanted the tutor to enrol the child on a range of classes so the child would be "equestrian training and starting an musical instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's view, helping their son grow into a "UK sophisticate" will lead to accomplishment and open doors.
"Taking into account the rights and wrongs of that, because it's certainly a status symbol," he adds.
However, notwithstanding all this tutelage in "English culture", could the child pick up what is termed cultural influence from the international family he lives with in any case?
"Absolutely", replied the CEO. "The family realize this might not succeed, but they've just taken the perspective of, 'why not attempt it and we should start as soon as we can', because the price of it is irrelevant," he stated.
Overly Optimistic
Several in the tutoring industry who share similar concerns.
Another CEO, head and founder of Blue Education, who also offer personal educators, wrote that "the process of embracing two identities, or actually, forming one's identity, is something that must be experienced personally, not designed."
He explained that he had relocated from China to the UK at the age of seven, and had been brought up understanding and embodying both cultures. He went on to study at the University of Cambridge.
"The idea that an individual can act as a representation of Britishness, someone who can in some way transplant the attributes of a British gentleman to a infant child, seems to me naive and impractical," he wrote.
"From my perspective, employing a distinctly English tutor from babyhood will will not necessarily produce the result they desire.
"I wasn't provided with such a figure, and nevertheless I have been lucky enough to live numerous of the opportunities they desire for their son."
He added: "The fact is, cultural identity can not be imposed from the outside influences; it must be selected, and it must be internally driven."
Acquiring Englishness
Certainly, Britishness is something the expert hopes can be taught – and sold.
"In my view the reality that the international society holds us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
