"A household residing in north London is looking for an extraordinary and experienced tutor to guide their most junior child on his first steps to growing into an British gentleman."
Upon seeing this post, you might easily miss the term "first-steps" as just figurative language.
However, it may be the most significant part of this distinctive job advert, as it aims to find a tutor for a infant.
Numerous of submissions have now been sent in since the anonymous family advertised their search for the £180k-a-year tutor, who has to be "a uniquely qualified person".
During the past few weeks, the listing has attracted interest across the press, with many wondering why?
Forward-Thinking Method
Adam Caller, CEO and founder of Tutors International, which is assisting the family in their hunt, explained that notwithstanding first skepticism, he found the concept "forward-looking", and "progressive".
When he spoke with the family, he said they recognized the unusual nature of their requirement, and how young their son is.
Nevertheless, they clarified that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to get a tutor, as they had held off until their elder sibling was five, and by that point "cultural bias had already become established".
What exactly did the family mean by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "everything", Adam replied. "The way you eat, how you speak".
He said the elder child had picked up "very nuanced, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had assumed their cultural ways. The family explained to Adam they hoped to prevent history to happen again with their younger child.
The strategy: To engage a British tutor, who should speak with standard English accent, to influence the baby from the very start.
Osmotic Learning
"A lot of the learning at the beginning here is somewhat absorbed naturally," said Adam.
It's through this natural absorption that the family are aiming the child will acquire the UK customs they aim to impart.
Adam explained the tutor must be someone who attended "the right kinds of schools – similar types of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The educator just has to be the suitable individual, they'll be performing things they may not realize they're doing, effortlessly," he said.
Cost Not Relevant
The family informed him the chosen tutor should ideally also have knowledge of or passion in riding, skiing, creative fields and musical activities so as to inspire the child in a wide range of interests.
Additionally though, he explained the family desired the tutor to sign up the child on a selection of courses so the child would be "equestrian training and picking up an 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 achievement and provide access.
"For all the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's undoubtedly a class statement," he adds.
Yet, in spite of all this instruction in "English culture", would the child adopt what is termed cultural influence from the globally influenced family he is raised by anyway?
"Certainly", replied the CEO. "The family know this might not succeed, but they've simply adopted the attitude of, 'let's give it a go and we'll proceed as quickly as we can', because the expense of it is not relevant," he stated.
Impractical
There are some in the tutoring industry who have these concerns.
An education leader, chief executive of a tutoring service, who provides personal educators, wrote that "the journey of adopting dual cultures, or actually, discovering oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not manufactured."
He noted that he had moved from Asia to the Britain at the age of 7 years old, and had been brought up experiencing and embodying dual heritages. He went on to study at Cambridge University.
"The idea that one individual can serve as a representation of English culture, someone who can somehow transplant the characteristics of a English gentleman onto a 12-month-old child, seems to me optimistic and unrealistic," he stated.
"From my perspective, employing a quintessentially British tutor from early childhood will does not instantly produce the outcome they desire.
"I never had such a figure, and yet I have been privileged enough to enjoy several of the situations they hope for their son."
He continued: "The reality is, personal identity can not be imposed from the outside; it must be selected, and it must be internally driven."
Buying Britishness
Naturally, UK identity is something Adam hopes can be educated – and marketed.
"I think the reality that the global community regards us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
