"Parents located in north London wants to find an extraordinary and experienced instructor to support their most junior child on his first steps to growing into an English gentleman."
When reading this listing, you might naturally skip the wording "first-steps" as just a turn of phrase.
Yet, it may be the crucial part of this unique job advert, as it aims to hire a tutor for a one-year-old.
Numerous of submissions have since been received since the unnamed family published their search for the highly paid tutor, who needs to be "a uniquely qualified person".
Over the last few weeks, the post has attracted interest throughout the news, with numerous asking why?
Forward-Thinking Method
Adam Caller, chief executive of a global tutoring firm, which is assisting the family in their hunt, stated that notwithstanding early doubt, he viewed the concept "far sighted", and "progressive".
When he consulted the family, he noted they recognized the unconventional nature of their request, and how young their son is.
But, they clarified that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had postponed until their older child was five, and by that stage "cultural influence had already set in".
But what did the family refer to by "cultural bias"?
It's "everything", Adam responded. "How you eat, the way you speak".
He stated the firstborn had absorbed "very nuanced, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had taken on their cultural norms. The family explained to the consultant they hoped to prevent this pattern to recur with their infant.
The strategy: To engage a English tutor, who needs to speak with RP, to influence the baby from day one.
Osmotic Learning
"A lot of the learning at the beginning here is somewhat acquired indirectly," said Adam.
It's through this osmosis that the family are aiming the child will acquire the UK customs they wish to instil.
Adam said the tutor had to be somebody who went to "the appropriate educational institutions – the same kinds of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The tutor simply needs to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be doing things they may not realize they're doing, effortlessly," he commented.
Expense Not a Factor
The family informed him the chosen tutor should ideally also have knowledge of or enthusiasm in horse riding, alpine skiing, artistic pursuits and musical activities so as to shape the child in a wide range of interests.
More than that though, he stated the family hoped the tutor to register the child on a selection of courses so the child would be "pony-riding and picking up an instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's view, assisting their son develop into a "English gentleman" will result in achievement and provide access.
"For all the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's definitely a status symbol," he notes.
But, in spite of all this instruction in "UK identity", could the child pick up alleged cultural influence from the globally influenced family he is raised by regardless?
"Certainly", answered the CEO. "They know this may not work, but they've simply adopted the attitude of, 'we should try and let's go as soon as we can', because the cost of it is irrelevant," he explained.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
There are some in the education sector who have those concerns.
Another CEO, CEO and founder of Blue Education, who provides individual instructors, wrote that "the process of becoming bicultural, or in fact, discovering oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not designed."
The expert noted that he had emigrated from China to the UK at the age of seven, and had been raised knowing and living both cultures. He progressed to study at Cambridge University.
"The notion that one individual can serve as a living vessel of English culture, an individual who can in some way impart the attributes of a British gentleman onto a 12-month-old child, appears optimistic and unrealistic," he commented.
"In my experience, employing a typically UK tutor from babyhood will not automatically produce the result they want.
"I wasn't provided with such a tutor, and yet I have been fortunate enough to live several of the opportunities they desire for their son."
He continued: "The fact is, personal identity should not be dictated from the outside; it must be selected, and it must come from within."
Purchasing UK Culture
Certainly, Britishness is something Adam believes can be instructed – and commercialized.
"In my view the fact that the world views us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
