"A family based in the northern part of London is looking for an extraordinary and skilled tutor to support their youngest child on his first steps to turning into an British gentleman."
When reading this post, you might naturally skip the phrase "first-steps" as just a turn of phrase.
However, it could be the most important element of this unique job advert, as it seeks to recruit a mentor for a one-year-old.
Many of submissions have since been received since the anonymous family advertised their search for the highly paid tutor, who needs to be "an exceptional individual".
In recent few weeks, the post has received interest throughout the news, with numerous asking why?
Progressive Approach
Adam Caller, head and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is assisting the family in their hunt, explained that notwithstanding initial skepticism, he found the concept "visionary", and "innovative".
When he spoke with the family, he noted they appreciated the atypical aspect of their requirement, and how young their son is.
But, they clarified that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to get a tutor, as they had held off until their older child was five, and by that point "cultural influence had already set in".
But what does the family indicate by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "all-encompassing", the expert responded. "The manner you eat, how you speak".
He said the firstborn had absorbed "very nuanced, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had adopted their cultural ways. The family explained to Adam they hoped to prevent history to repeat itself with their infant.
The strategy: To bring in a English tutor, who must speak with Received Pronunciation, to shape the baby right from the beginning.
Subtle Influence
"A great deal of the learning at the start here is somewhat osmotic," explained Adam.
It's through this natural absorption that the family are aiming the child will pick up the English characteristics they want to cultivate.
Adam noted the tutor must be an individual who attended "the appropriate educational institutions – similar types of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The educator simply needs to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be carrying out things they may not realize they're doing, effortlessly," he said.
Cost Not Relevant
The family told Adam the successful candidate should ideally also have understanding of or interest in riding, skiing, the arts and music so as to shape the child in a wide range of interests.
More than that though, he explained the family desired the tutor to enrol the child on a selection of courses so the child would be "pony-riding and learning an musical instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's minds, guiding their son become a "UK sophisticate" will bring about accomplishment and create opportunities.
"Considering the pros and cons of that, because it's undoubtedly a class statement," he comments.
Yet, despite all this guidance in "UK identity", would the child adopt so-called cultural leaning from the multicultural family he lives with anyway?
"Certainly", replied the CEO. "They know this may not work, but they've merely embraced the perspective of, 'why not attempt it and let's go as soon as we can', because the expense of it is irrelevant," he said.
Impractical
There are some in the education sector who have these reservations.
An education leader, head and founder of Blue Education, who also offer personal educators, commented that "the development of adopting dual cultures, or in fact, discovering oneself, is something that must be grown into, not engineered."
Peter noted that he had emigrated from China to the Britain at the time of childhood, and had been brought up knowing and living both cultures. He continued to study at Cambridge University.
"The concept that one individual can serve as a living vessel of English culture, a person who can somehow transplant the attributes of a British gentleman upon a 12-month-old child, strikes me as naive and unfeasible," he commented.
"In my experience, employing a typically UK tutor from early childhood will not automatically produce the goal they desire.
"I did not have such a tutor, and yet I have been lucky enough to experience numerous of the experiences they hope for their son."
He added: "The reality is, self-identity cannot be dictated from the outside; it must be selected, and it must be internally driven."
Buying Britishness
Naturally, Britishness is something the expert believes can be taught – and commercialized.
"I believe the situation that the global community views us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
