"Parents residing in north London wants to find an extraordinary and skilled tutor to assist their youngest child on his initial journey to turning into an British gentleman."
Looking at this post, you might easily skip the term "initial stages" as mere figurative language.
However, it could be the crucial element of this unique position posting, as it aims to recruit a teacher for a 12-month-old.
Many of submissions have now been sent in since the unidentified family advertised their search for the £180k-a-year tutor, who needs to be "a uniquely qualified person".
During the past few weeks, the advert has gained attention throughout the press, with many questioning why?
Progressive Approach
A tutoring expert, head and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is supporting the family in their search, explained that notwithstanding first doubt, he considered the plan "far sighted", and "innovative".
When he met the family, he mentioned they understood the atypical nature of their requirement, and how immature their son is.
However, they clarified that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had held off until their older child was five, and by that point "cultural influence had by then become established".
What precisely does the family refer to by "cultural bias"?
It's "everything", the expert replied. "The manner you eat, the manner you speak".
He said the older sibling had adopted "very nuanced, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had assumed their cultural ways. The family told him they wished to avoid this pattern to happen again with their younger child.
The intention: To bring in a British tutor, who must speak with RP, to shape the baby right from the beginning.
Subtle Influence
"A great deal of the education at the outset here is somewhat acquired indirectly," explained the expert.
It's by means of this osmosis that the family are expecting the child will pick up the British traits they wish to instil.
Adam noted the tutor had to be somebody who studied at "the right kinds of schools – comparable categories of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The instructor simply needs to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be performing things they aren't even aware they're doing, effortlessly," he said.
Money No Object
The family explained to Adam the successful candidate should preferably also have knowledge of or enthusiasm in horse riding, skiing, artistic pursuits and instrumental training so as to shape the child in a broad spectrum of passions.
Furthermore though, he said the family desired the tutor to sign up the child on a variety of lessons so the child would be "pony-riding and learning an musical instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's perspective, guiding their son grow into a "British gentleman" will lead to achievement and provide access.
"Considering the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's undoubtedly a social class indicator," he adds.
Yet, in spite of all this tutelage in "English culture", might the child adopt what is termed cultural leaning from the multicultural family he lives with regardless?
"Certainly", said the CEO. "The parents realize this could fail, but they've just taken the perspective of, 'why not attempt it and we'll proceed as quickly as we can', because the expense of it is not a concern," he explained.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
There are some in the tutoring industry who express these reservations.
An education leader, head and founder of Blue Education, who also offer individual instructors, wrote that "the development of embracing two identities, or actually, discovering oneself, is something that must be grown into, not engineered."
Peter noted that he had emigrated from Asia to the Britain at the time of childhood, and had been raised understanding and embodying both cultures. He continued to be educated at the University of Cambridge.
"The idea that an individual can serve as a representation of Britishness, a person who can somehow transplant the characteristics of a English gentleman onto a one-year-old child, seems to me naive and unrealistic," he wrote.
"Based on my background, engaging a quintessentially English tutor from infancy will will not instantly create the goal they want.
"I did not have that kind of mentor, and yet I have been fortunate enough to experience numerous of the experiences they aspire for their son."
He continued: "The reality is, cultural identity cannot be forced from the outside; it must be chosen, and it must come from within."
Purchasing UK Culture
Of course, Britishness is something the expert hopes can be instructed – and marketed.
"I think the fact that the world views us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
