"A family residing in the northern part of London seeks an exceptional and skilled tutor to support their most junior child on his initial journey to becoming an British gentleman."
When reading this advertisement, you might easily overlook the term "initial stages" as just figurative language.
However, it might be the most important element of this unusual employment listing, as it seeks to find a mentor for a 12-month-old.
Many of applications have already been submitted since the anonymous family advertised their request for the highly paid tutor, who has to be "someone very special".
In recent few weeks, the advert has attracted attention across the press, with many questioning why?
Innovative Idea
Adam Caller, chief executive of an education consultancy, which is helping the family in their hunt, said that despite initial scepticism, he viewed the plan "far sighted", and "progressive".
When he consulted the family, he noted they appreciated the atypical aspect of their requirement, and how immature their son is.
But, they clarified that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had held off until their elder sibling was five, and by that stage "cultural bias had by then taken hold".
What precisely does the family refer to by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "all-encompassing", Adam responded. "The way you eat, the way you speak".
He explained the firstborn had absorbed "very nuanced, body language" from the family, and had adopted their cultural norms. The family explained to Adam they wished to avoid the same situation to recur with their infant.
The strategy: To hire a English tutor, who must speak with RP, to guide the baby from the very start.
Osmotic Learning
"A great deal of the education at the start here is rather acquired indirectly," said the expert.
It's via this osmosis that the family are expecting the child will adopt the British traits they aim to cultivate.
He explained the tutor needed to be an individual who attended "prestigious academies – the same kinds of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The educator just has to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be performing things they don't even know they're doing, just naturally," he added.
Cost Not Relevant
The family informed him the successful candidate should preferably also have understanding of or enthusiasm in horse riding, winter sports, artistic pursuits and instrumental training so as to influence the child in a diverse set of hobbies.
More than that though, he stated the family desired the tutor to enrol the child on a variety of courses so the child would be "pony-riding and starting an musical instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's view, assisting their son grow into a "English gentleman" will bring about accomplishment and open doors.
"For all the pros and cons of that, because it's certainly a status symbol," he comments.
But, in spite of all this instruction in "Britishness", could the child adopt so-called cultural bias from the globally influenced family he is raised by anyway?
"Yes", answered the CEO. "The parents realize this could fail, but they've simply adopted the perspective of, 'we should try and let's go as quickly as we can', because the cost of it is not relevant," he said.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
There are some in the education sector who have similar concerns.
An education leader, CEO and founder of Blue Education, who supplies private tutors, stated that "the journey of adopting dual cultures, or actually, becoming oneself, is something that must be lived into, not manufactured."
The expert explained that he had relocated from the Far East to the UK at the period of childhood, and had been raised experiencing and embodying dual heritages. He progressed to be educated at a prestigious UK institution.
"The notion that a single person can serve as a representation of Britishness, a person who can possibly impart the qualities of a English gentleman upon a infant child, appears optimistic and unrealistic," he wrote.
"From my perspective, engaging a distinctly British tutor from babyhood will will not instantly achieve the result they want.
"I did not have such a figure, and yet I have been lucky enough to enjoy several of the opportunities they desire for their son."
He continued: "The truth is, personal identity cannot be dictated from the outside influences; it must be selected, and it must originate internally."
Acquiring Englishness
Of course, English culture is something the CEO hopes can be taught – and sold.
"In my view the reality that the international society views us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
