"Parents located in the northern part of London wants to find an extraordinary and experienced tutor to assist their most junior child on his first steps to becoming an British gentleman."
When reading this post, you might easily overlook the phrase "first-steps" as mere figurative language.
However, it might be the crucial part of this unusual position posting, as it seeks to recruit a tutor for a one-year-old.
Many of submissions have already been sent in since the unnamed family published their search for the £180,000 per year tutor, who must be "a uniquely qualified person".
In recent few weeks, the advert has received attention in the media, with numerous asking why?
Progressive Approach
Adam Caller, CEO and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is assisting the family in their search, explained that despite first doubt, he found the plan "far sighted", and "progressive".
When he consulted the family, he noted they understood the unconventional nature of their request, and how young their son is.
Nevertheless, they clarified 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 become established".
What exactly does the family refer to by "cultural leaning"?
It's "comprehensive", Adam replied. "How you eat, the way you speak".
He said the elder child had adopted "very nuanced, body language" from the family, and had adopted their cultural ways. The family told Adam they did not want this pattern to recur with their younger child.
The plan: To hire a UK tutor, who needs to speak with RP, to guide the baby from day one.
Subtle Influence
"A great deal of the development at the outset here is somewhat absorbed naturally," said the expert.
It's by means of this osmosis that the family are aiming the child will acquire the UK customs they want to instil.
Adam said the tutor must be someone who studied at "the right kinds of schools – the same kinds of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The instructor simply needs to be the right kind of person, they'll be performing things they may not realize they're doing, just naturally," he added.
Money No Object
The family told Adam the successful candidate should ideally also have knowledge of or passion in riding, skiing, artistic pursuits and instrumental training so as to influence the child in a broad spectrum of hobbies.
Additionally though, he stated the family hoped the tutor to enrol the child on a variety of courses so the child would be "horseback riding and learning an tool by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's perspective, assisting their son become a "British gentleman" will bring about success and create opportunities.
"Taking into account the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's certainly a social class indicator," he comments.
Yet, in spite of all this tutelage in "UK identity", could the child pick up so-called cultural leaning from the international family he lives with anyway?
"Yes", said he. "They realize this may not work, but they've merely embraced the view of, 'why not attempt it and we should start as soon as we can', because the price of it is irrelevant," he explained.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
A number of in the private teaching field who share similar doubts.
An education leader, CEO and founder of an educational organization, who provides individual instructors, wrote that "the process of embracing two identities, or actually, forming one's identity, is something that must be experienced personally, not designed."
The expert explained that he had emigrated from China to the UK at the period of seven, and had been raised understanding and embodying both cultures. He continued to be educated at the University of Cambridge.
"The concept that an individual can serve as a living vessel of Britishness, a person who can in some way impart the qualities of a UK sophisticate onto a one-year-old child, appears naive and unrealistic," he stated.
"In my experience, having a distinctly UK tutor from infancy will not instantly achieve the result they hope for.
"I wasn't provided with that kind of mentor, and however I have been privileged enough to enjoy many of the experiences they aspire for their son."
He stated: "The reality is, cultural identity cannot be imposed from the outside influences; it must be selected, and it must come from within."
Buying Britishness
Of course, UK identity is something the CEO thinks can be educated – and commercialized.
"In my view the situation that the international society regards us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
