"Parents located in North London seeks an remarkable and qualified tutor to support their youngest child on his first steps to becoming an British gentleman."
When reading this post, you might easily skip the term "first-steps" as just a turn of phrase.
However, it could be the most significant aspect of this unique job advert, as it aims to find a teacher for a one-year-old.
Many of applications have already been received since the anonymous family posted their request for the highly paid tutor, who must be "a uniquely qualified person".
Over the last few weeks, the listing has attracted notice throughout the press, with many asking why?
Forward-Thinking Method
A tutoring expert, CEO and founder of Tutors International, which is helping the family in their search, explained that despite initial doubt, he considered the plan "far sighted", and "innovative".
When he consulted the family, he noted they recognized the unusual nature of their requirement, and how immature their son is.
Nevertheless, they stated that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to get a tutor, as they had postponed until their elder sibling was five, and by that point "cultural bias had already taken hold".
What precisely does the family indicate by "cultural leaning"?
It's "all-encompassing", he answered. "The way you eat, the way you speak".
He stated the older sibling had absorbed "very nuanced, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had adopted their cultural ways. The family informed the consultant they hoped to prevent history to recur with their younger child.
The intention: To hire a UK tutor, who needs to speak with standard English accent, to guide the baby from day one.
Osmotic Learning
"Much of the learning at the beginning here is somewhat absorbed naturally," stated Adam.
It's through this subtle influence that the family are hoping the child will acquire the British traits they wish to impart.
Adam said the tutor needed to be somebody who attended "the right kinds of schools – the same kinds of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The instructor just has to be the right kind of person, they'll be carrying out things they aren't even aware they're doing, effortlessly," he commented.
Cost Not Relevant
The family told the expert the chosen tutor should ideally also have knowledge of or enthusiasm in equestrian activities, alpine skiing, creative fields and musical activities so as to inspire the child in a diverse set of hobbies.
Additionally though, he stated the family wanted the tutor to register the child on a range of classes so the child would be "horseback riding and starting an instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's perspective, guiding their son grow into a "British gentleman" will bring about accomplishment and open doors.
"Considering the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's undoubtedly a status symbol," he adds.
But, despite all this guidance in "English culture", would the child adopt what is termed cultural leaning from the globally influenced family he lives with regardless?
"Absolutely", replied the CEO. "The parents know this could fail, but they've simply adopted the view of, 'why not attempt it and we should start as quickly as we can', because the price of it is irrelevant," he stated.
Impractical
There are some in the education sector who express these concerns.
Another CEO, chief executive of Blue Education, who supplies individual instructors, stated that "the development of adopting dual cultures, or indeed, becoming oneself, is something that must be lived into, not engineered."
Peter noted that he had emigrated from the Far East to the Britain at the time of 7 years old, and had been brought up understanding and embodying two backgrounds. He progressed to learn at the University of Cambridge.
"The notion that one individual can act as a living vessel of Britishness, someone who can in some way transplant the attributes of a English gentleman to a infant child, strikes me as naive and impractical," he stated.
"From my perspective, engaging a distinctly British tutor from early childhood will not instantly create the outcome they hope for.
"I never had that kind of mentor, and nevertheless I have been privileged enough to enjoy several of the experiences they aspire for their son."
He stated: "The reality is, personal identity should not be forced from the external environment; it must be embraced, and it must originate internally."
Acquiring Englishness
Of course, Britishness is something the expert thinks can be educated – and sold.
"In my view the reality that the world views us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
