"A family located in the northern part of London is looking for an extraordinary and experienced tutor to guide their smallest child on his first steps to becoming an English gentleman."
Upon seeing this post, you might easily skip the term "first-steps" as just a turn of phrase.
However, it could be the crucial aspect of this unique job advert, as it seeks to find a mentor for a infant.
Many of submissions have already been sent in since the unnamed family advertised their call for the highly paid tutor, who has to be "someone very special".
Over the last few weeks, the listing has received interest across the press, with several questioning why?
Innovative Idea
Adam Caller, head and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is helping the family in their hunt, stated that notwithstanding first scepticism, he considered the concept "forward-looking", and "innovative".
When he met the family, he mentioned they recognized the unconventional aspect of their requirement, and how young their son is.
Nevertheless, they stated that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to get a tutor, as they had waited until their elder sibling was five, and by that stage "cultural bias had by then taken hold".
What exactly does the family indicate by "cultural leaning"?
It's "comprehensive", Adam replied. "The manner you eat, how you speak".
He stated the firstborn had adopted "really subtle, unspoken signals" from the family, and had assumed their cultural norms. The family told Adam they hoped to prevent this pattern to repeat itself with their younger child.
The plan: To engage a UK tutor, who needs to speak with Received Pronunciation, to guide the baby from the very start.
Natural Absorption
"A lot of the development at the outset here is rather acquired indirectly," explained the CEO.
It's via this natural absorption that the family are aiming the child will pick up the English characteristics they aim to cultivate.
The consultant noted the tutor needed to be somebody who attended "the appropriate educational institutions – the same kinds of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The instructor must be the right kind of person, they'll be carrying out things they may not realize they're doing, just naturally," he commented.
Expense Not a Factor
The family informed the expert the selected educator should ideally also have knowledge of or enthusiasm in horse riding, alpine skiing, the arts and music so as to influence the child in a broad spectrum of interests.
Furthermore though, he stated the family hoped the tutor to register the child on a range of classes so the child would be "equestrian training and starting an instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's view, guiding their son develop into a "English gentleman" will lead to accomplishment and provide access.
"Taking into account the pros and cons of that, because it's certainly a class statement," he adds.
But, despite all this guidance in "Britishness", could the child absorb alleged cultural leaning from the globally influenced family he lives with regardless?
"Yes", replied the CEO. "The parents know this may not work, but they've just taken the perspective of, 'we should try and we should start as early as we can', because the expense of it is not a concern," he explained.
Impractical
There are some in the tutoring industry who express those concerns.
An education leader, CEO and founder of an educational organization, who supplies personal educators, commented that "the process of embracing two identities, or in fact, forming one's identity, is something that must be grown into, not engineered."
Peter explained that he had relocated from China to the Britain at the time of childhood, and had been educated experiencing and embodying two backgrounds. He went on to learn at the University of Cambridge.
"The notion that an individual can act as a living vessel of UK identity, someone who can in some way transfer the qualities of a UK sophisticate upon a 12-month-old child, strikes me as optimistic and unrealistic," he commented.
"From my perspective, employing a quintessentially British tutor from early childhood will does not automatically produce the goal they hope for.
"I did not have such a figure, and however I have been lucky enough to live several of the situations they aspire for their son."
He stated: "The reality is, personal identity can not be forced from the external environment; it must be selected, and it must come from within."
Buying Britishness
Of course, Britishness is something Adam believes can be taught – and marketed.
"I believe the reality that the world regards us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
