"A family located in north London is looking for an remarkable and qualified educator to assist their smallest child on his first steps to becoming an British gentleman."
Upon seeing this post, you might naturally skip the phrase "first-steps" as simple figurative language.
However, it may be the most important element of this distinctive position posting, as it aims to hire a teacher for a 12-month-old.
Many of applications have since been received since the unnamed family published their call for the £180k-a-year tutor, who has to be "someone very special".
In recent few weeks, the listing has attracted notice in the media, with numerous questioning why?
Progressive Approach
Adam Caller, chief executive of Tutors International, which is supporting the family in their quest, explained that despite initial scepticism, he found the idea "visionary", and "advanced".
When he consulted the family, he mentioned they appreciated the atypical character of their requirement, and how early in age their son is.
However, they stated that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had postponed until their firstborn was five, and by that point "cultural conditioning had by then become established".
What exactly does the family indicate by "cultural bias"?
It's "everything", the expert answered. "The way you eat, how you speak".
He said the elder child had picked up "very nuanced, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had assumed their cultural norms. The family explained to the consultant they did not want the same situation to repeat itself with their younger child.
The plan: To bring in a English tutor, who needs to speak with standard English accent, to guide the baby from the very start.
Osmotic Learning
"A lot of the learning at the outset here is somewhat acquired indirectly," said Adam.
It's through this subtle influence that the family are expecting the child will adopt the British traits they want to impart.
Adam explained the tutor must be somebody who attended "the appropriate educational institutions – the same kinds of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The tutor just has to be the right kind of person, they'll be carrying out things they aren't even aware they're doing, simply by nature," he added.
Cost Not Relevant
The family told the expert the successful candidate should ideally also have familiarity of or passion in riding, winter sports, creative fields and musical activities so as to shape the child in a wide range of interests.
More than that though, he stated the family wanted the tutor to register the child on a range of lessons so the child would be "pony-riding and learning an musical instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's perspective, helping their son become a "British gentleman" will result in achievement and open doors.
"Considering the rights and wrongs of that, because it's definitely a class statement," he notes.
But, in spite of all this guidance in "English culture", might the child adopt alleged cultural leaning from the international family he lives with anyway?
"Absolutely", said Adam. "The parents realize this could fail, but they've simply adopted the view of, 'we should try and let's go as early as we can', because the cost of it is not relevant," he explained.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
Several in the private teaching field who express those reservations.
Peter Cui, chief executive of Blue Education, who provides individual instructors, stated that "the development of becoming bicultural, or actually, becoming oneself, is something that must be grown into, not manufactured."
He wrote that he had emigrated from China to the Britain at the time of 7 years old, and had been educated understanding and embodying both cultures. He progressed to be educated at a prestigious UK institution.
"The concept that one individual can act as a representation of Britishness, a person who can possibly transfer the attributes of a British gentleman to a infant child, appears naive and unrealistic," he commented.
"From my perspective, engaging a typically British tutor from babyhood will not necessarily achieve the outcome they hope for.
"I wasn't provided with such a tutor, and yet I have been fortunate enough to enjoy numerous of the situations they desire for their son."
He continued: "The fact is, self-identity cannot be forced from the external environment; it must be chosen, and it must be internally driven."
Acquiring Englishness
Of course, English culture is something the expert hopes can be instructed – and marketed.
"In my view the fact that the global community regards us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
