"A household located in the northern part of London wants to find an extraordinary and skilled tutor to support their most junior child on his initial journey to becoming an British gentleman."
When reading this post, you might easily miss the wording "initial stages" as just a turn of phrase.
However, it might be the most important part of this distinctive employment listing, as it attempts to find a tutor for a infant.
Many of applications have now been received since the unnamed family published their search for the £180k-a-year tutor, who has to be "a uniquely qualified person".
In recent few weeks, the post has attracted interest across the press, with many asking why?
Progressive Approach
Adam Caller, CEO and founder of an education consultancy, which is helping the family in their hunt, explained that in spite of initial scepticism, he considered the plan "visionary", and "progressive".
When he met the family, he said they appreciated the unconventional nature of their requirement, and how young their son is.
But, they stated that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had waited until their firstborn was five, and by that age "cultural bias had already taken hold".
But what did the family indicate by "cultural leaning"?
It's "all-encompassing", the expert responded. "How you eat, the way you speak".
He stated the firstborn had absorbed "very nuanced, body language" from the family, and had taken on their cultural norms. The family told the consultant they hoped to prevent the same situation to happen again with their infant.
The plan: To bring in a English tutor, who needs to speak with standard English accent, to shape the baby right from the beginning.
Subtle Influence
"A great deal of the learning at the outset here is rather acquired indirectly," said the CEO.
It's through this osmosis that the family are expecting the child will adopt the UK customs they wish to cultivate.
Adam said the tutor must be someone who studied at "the appropriate educational institutions – similar types of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The educator must be the appropriate candidate, they'll be carrying out things they aren't even aware they're doing, effortlessly," he added.
Expense Not a Factor
The family told him the successful candidate should preferably also have understanding of or passion in riding, alpine skiing, the arts and music so as to inspire the child in a diverse set of passions.
Additionally though, he said the family hoped the tutor to enrol the child on a selection of classes so the child would be "equestrian training and picking up an musical instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's perspective, guiding their son develop into a "UK sophisticate" will lead to success and open doors.
"Taking into account the pros and cons of that, because it's undoubtedly a class statement," he notes.
But, in spite of all this tutelage in "Britishness", could the child absorb so-called cultural bias from the international family he lives with regardless?
"Yes", replied Adam. "They know this could fail, but they've simply adopted the attitude of, 'let's give it a go and let's go as soon as we can', because the cost of it is not relevant," he stated.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
A number of in the education sector who express these reservations.
Another CEO, CEO and founder of a tutoring service, who supplies individual instructors, wrote that "the development of becoming bicultural, or in fact, becoming oneself, is something that must be lived into, not designed."
He explained that he had moved from the Far East to the United Kingdom at the time of childhood, and had been raised understanding and living two backgrounds. He continued to be educated at Cambridge University.
"The concept that one individual can function as a embodiment of Britishness, someone who can possibly impart the characteristics of a English gentleman to a 12-month-old child, strikes me as naive and unrealistic," he wrote.
"Based on my background, employing a quintessentially British tutor from early childhood will not necessarily produce the outcome they want.
"I did not have such a tutor, and however I have been fortunate enough to experience several of the situations they desire for their son."
He continued: "The fact is, cultural identity cannot be dictated from the outside; it must be embraced, and it must originate internally."
Buying Britishness
Of course, UK identity is something the expert believes can be taught – and marketed.
"In my view the situation that the global community holds us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
