"A household residing in north London wants to find an exceptional and qualified educator to support their youngest child on his initial journey to becoming an English gentleman."
When reading this listing, you might easily miss the phrase "first-steps" as simple figurative language.
Yet, it may be the crucial aspect of this unusual position posting, as it attempts to find a teacher for a infant.
Hundreds of responses have now been submitted since the unidentified family published their call for the £180,000 per year tutor, who has to be "a uniquely qualified person".
Over the last few weeks, the post has gained attention across the press, with numerous questioning why?
Progressive Approach
Adam Caller, CEO and founder of Tutors International, which is supporting the family in their search, stated that despite initial doubt, he found the idea "far sighted", and "advanced".
When he spoke with the family, he mentioned they understood the unusual nature of their demand, and how young their son is.
But, they stated that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had postponed until their firstborn was five, and by that age "cultural influence had by then taken hold".
What exactly does the family indicate by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "comprehensive", Adam responded. "How you eat, the manner you speak".
He said the older sibling had adopted "extremely delicate, unspoken signals" from the family, and had adopted their cultural ways. The family told Adam they wished to avoid this pattern to repeat itself with their younger child.
The strategy: To bring in a English tutor, who needs to speak with standard English accent, to shape the baby from the very start.
Osmotic Learning
"A great deal of the education at the start here is somewhat absorbed naturally," said the CEO.
It's through this natural absorption that the family are hoping the child will acquire the British traits they want to instil.
The consultant said the tutor must be somebody who attended "the right kinds of schools – comparable categories of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The educator must be the suitable individual, they'll be carrying out things they may not realize they're doing, just naturally," he added.
Money No Object
The family told the expert the successful candidate should preferably also have knowledge of or passion in horse riding, winter sports, artistic pursuits and musical activities so as to shape the child in a wide range of passions.
More than that though, he said the family hoped the tutor to register the child on a selection of lessons so the child would be "horseback riding and picking up an instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's minds, assisting their son grow into a "UK sophisticate" will bring about achievement and provide access.
"Considering the rights and wrongs of that, because it's definitely a status symbol," he comments.
Yet, despite all this tutelage in "Britishness", would the child absorb what is termed cultural bias from the globally influenced family he lives with anyway?
"Certainly", said he. "The parents realize this might not succeed, but they've simply adopted the attitude of, 'let's give it a go and we should start as soon as we can', because the cost of it is not a concern," he explained.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
There are some in the education sector who share these doubts.
Peter Cui, chief executive of a tutoring service, who also offer individual instructors, stated that "the process of becoming bicultural, or indeed, forming one's identity, is something that must be experienced personally, not manufactured."
He wrote that he had relocated from the Far East to the Britain at the time of seven, and had been educated experiencing and living dual heritages. He went on to be educated at Cambridge University.
"The idea that an individual can serve as a embodiment of UK identity, a person who can in some way impart the characteristics of a English gentleman onto a infant child, appears optimistic and unfeasible," he stated.
"Based on my background, having a distinctly English tutor from early childhood will not instantly produce the outcome they want.
"I never had such a figure, and nevertheless I have been privileged enough to live numerous of the experiences they desire for their son."
He added: "The fact is, cultural identity should not be dictated from the outside influences; it must be embraced, and it must originate internally."
Buying Britishness
Of course, English culture is something the CEO believes can be instructed – and commercialized.
"I think the situation that the world views us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
