"Parents located in the northern part of London is looking for an exceptional and skilled tutor to support their smallest child on his first steps to turning into an British gentleman."
Looking at this advertisement, you might naturally skip the wording "first-steps" as simple a turn of phrase.
But, it may be the crucial element of this unusual job advert, as it seeks to find a mentor for a one-year-old.
Many of responses have since been submitted since the unnamed family published their search for the £180k-a-year tutor, who must be "a uniquely qualified person".
In recent few weeks, the advert has received interest across the news, with numerous wondering why?
Innovative Idea
Adam Caller, head and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is helping the family in their search, said that notwithstanding initial doubt, he considered the concept "far sighted", and "innovative".
When he met the family, he noted they recognized the unusual nature of their demand, and how early in age their son is.
But, they clarified that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to get a tutor, as they had waited until their firstborn was five, and by that age "cultural bias had already become established".
But what did the family mean by "cultural bias"?
It's "comprehensive", he answered. "How you eat, how you speak".
He explained the older sibling had picked up "really subtle, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had assumed their cultural ways. The family explained to Adam they did not want the same situation to happen again with their infant.
The intention: To hire a English tutor, who needs to speak with RP, to guide the baby from the very start.
Osmotic Learning
"A great deal of the development at the beginning here is kind of acquired indirectly," stated the expert.
It's via this osmosis that the family are hoping the child will acquire the British traits they wish to cultivate.
He said the tutor had to be someone who studied at "the right kinds of schools – the same kinds of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The instructor simply needs to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be carrying out things they don't even know they're doing, just naturally," he added.
Cost Not Relevant
The family informed Adam the successful candidate should ideally also have understanding of or passion in riding, skiing, artistic pursuits and music so as to influence the child in a diverse set of hobbies.
Additionally though, he said the family desired the tutor to sign up the child on a selection of classes so the child would be "equestrian training and learning an musical instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's view, assisting their son grow into a "British gentleman" will bring about success and provide access.
"Taking into account the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's definitely a social class indicator," he comments.
But, despite all this guidance in "English culture", would the child absorb what is termed cultural leaning from the international family he lives with regardless?
"Yes", answered the CEO. "The parents understand this may not work, but they've merely embraced the attitude of, 'why not attempt it and we'll proceed as early as we can', because the expense of it is irrelevant," he explained.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
A number of in the education sector who express those doubts.
An education leader, head and founder of a tutoring service, who provides personal educators, stated that "the process of becoming bicultural, or actually, becoming oneself, is something that must be grown into, not manufactured."
He wrote that he had moved from China to the Britain at the age of childhood, and had been raised understanding and embodying two backgrounds. He progressed to study at the University of Cambridge.
"The idea that a single person can serve as a living vessel of UK identity, someone who can possibly impart the attributes of a British gentleman to a one-year-old child, appears optimistic and impractical," he stated.
"From my perspective, engaging a distinctly English tutor from infancy will does not automatically produce the result they hope for.
"I did not have that kind of mentor, and yet I have been privileged enough to enjoy many of the opportunities they aspire for their son."
He stated: "The reality is, self-identity cannot be forced from the outside influences; it must be embraced, and it must come from within."
Buying Britishness
Of course, UK identity is something the expert thinks can be educated – and marketed.
"I believe the situation that the world holds us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
