"A household based in the northern part of London wants to find an extraordinary and qualified tutor to support their smallest child on his first steps to turning into an English gentleman."
Upon seeing this listing, you might easily miss the phrase "first-steps" as simple a turn of phrase.
Yet, it might be the most significant element of this unique position posting, as it seeks to find a teacher for a 12-month-old.
Hundreds of applications have already been submitted since the anonymous family published their search for the highly paid tutor, who needs to be "a uniquely qualified person".
During the past few weeks, the post has received notice across the press, with many asking why?
Forward-Thinking Method
A tutoring expert, head and founder of an education consultancy, which is supporting the family in their search, said that despite early scepticism, he viewed the idea "forward-looking", and "innovative".
When he consulted the family, he mentioned they appreciated the atypical aspect of their demand, and how early in age their son is.
However, they clarified that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to get a tutor, as they had waited until their elder sibling was five, and by that age "cultural influence had by then set in".
What precisely does the family indicate by "cultural leaning"?
It's "comprehensive", he replied. "The way you eat, the manner you speak".
He stated the elder child had adopted "very nuanced, unspoken signals" from the family, and had assumed their cultural ways. The family explained to the consultant they did not want this pattern to repeat itself with their younger child.
The intention: To hire a British tutor, who needs to speak with RP, to influence the baby from the very start.
Osmotic Learning
"Much of the learning at the beginning here is rather osmotic," said the CEO.
It's by means of this natural absorption that the family are aiming the child will adopt the British traits they aim to impart.
He noted the tutor must be someone who studied at "the appropriate educational institutions – the same kinds of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The tutor just has to be the right kind of person, they'll be doing things they may not realize they're doing, simply by nature," he added.
Expense Not a Factor
The family explained to the expert the selected educator should preferably also have knowledge of or interest in equestrian activities, winter sports, creative fields and music so as to shape the child in a wide range of interests.
More than that though, he explained the family hoped the tutor to enrol the child on a selection of lessons so the child would be "pony-riding and learning an tool by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's perspective, guiding their son develop into a "English gentleman" will bring about accomplishment and provide access.
"Considering the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's undoubtedly a social class indicator," he comments.
Yet, in spite of all this instruction in "UK identity", would the child pick up what is termed cultural influence from the multicultural family he is raised by anyway?
"Yes", said Adam. "They know this could fail, but they've merely embraced the perspective of, 'why not attempt it and let's go as quickly as we can', because the expense of it is irrelevant," he explained.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
There are some in the private teaching field who share similar concerns.
Another CEO, CEO and founder of an educational organization, who also offer individual instructors, wrote that "the journey of becoming bicultural, or actually, discovering oneself, is something that must be grown into, not manufactured."
He wrote that he had relocated from China to the UK at the period of seven, and had been educated knowing and embodying dual heritages. He went on to study at Cambridge University.
"The concept that one individual can serve as a representation of UK identity, someone who can somehow transplant the qualities of a UK sophisticate upon a 12-month-old child, strikes me as optimistic and unrealistic," he stated.
"From my perspective, engaging a quintessentially UK tutor from infancy will not automatically create the result they want.
"I wasn't provided with that kind of mentor, and nevertheless I have been fortunate enough to live many of the opportunities they hope for their son."
He added: "The truth is, personal identity cannot be imposed from the outside; it must be embraced, and it must originate internally."
Buying Britishness
Naturally, UK identity is something the CEO hopes can be educated – and marketed.
"I think the situation that the global community views us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
