"A family based in north London is looking for an remarkable and skilled educator to support their youngest child on his first steps to growing into an English gentleman."
Looking at this listing, you might readily miss the wording "first-steps" as mere an expression.
However, it may be the most important element of this unusual job advert, as it seeks to find a tutor for a one-year-old.
Hundreds of responses have now been received since the anonymous family posted their search for the £180k-a-year tutor, who must be "an exceptional individual".
Over the last few weeks, the listing has received interest across the media, with several questioning why?
Forward-Thinking Method
Adam Caller, head and founder of Tutors International, which is helping the family in their search, stated that notwithstanding first skepticism, he viewed the idea "forward-looking", and "progressive".
When he met the family, he said they appreciated the unconventional nature of their requirement, and how immature their son is.
But, they clarified that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had postponed until their older child was five, and by that age "cultural bias had already become established".
But what did the family mean by "cultural leaning"?
It's "all-encompassing", Adam responded. "The way you eat, the manner you speak".
He explained the firstborn had picked up "extremely delicate, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had assumed their cultural habits. The family informed Adam they did not want history to happen again with their infant.
The strategy: To bring in a UK tutor, who must speak with Received Pronunciation, to guide the baby right from the beginning.
Subtle Influence
"A lot of the development at the beginning here is rather osmotic," explained the expert.
It's through this natural absorption that the family are aiming the child will adopt the UK customs they aim to cultivate.
Adam explained the tutor had to be an individual who studied at "the right kinds of schools – similar types 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 performing things they may not realize they're doing, effortlessly," he commented.
Money No Object
The family informed the expert the successful candidate should preferably also have knowledge of or passion in equestrian activities, skiing, artistic pursuits and music so as to shape the child in a wide range of passions.
Furthermore though, he stated the family wanted the tutor to sign up the child on a selection of courses so the child would be "horseback riding and picking up an tool by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's view, helping their son grow into a "English gentleman" will result in success and provide access.
"Taking into account the pros and cons of that, because it's certainly a class statement," he comments.
Yet, notwithstanding all this instruction in "Britishness", might the child absorb alleged cultural influence from the international family he is raised by anyway?
"Certainly", said Adam. "They know this may not work, but they've just taken the perspective of, 'why not attempt it and we'll proceed as soon as we can', because the price of it is not relevant," he explained.
Overly Optimistic
Several in the private teaching field who share those reservations.
Peter Cui, chief executive of Blue Education, who also offer personal educators, stated that "the journey of becoming bicultural, or in fact, discovering oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not engineered."
Peter wrote that he had emigrated from the Far East to the UK at the period of seven, and had been educated experiencing and practicing both cultures. He progressed to learn at Cambridge University.
"The concept that one individual can serve as a living vessel of Britishness, an individual who can somehow transplant the attributes of a UK sophisticate upon a 12-month-old child, seems to me naive and impractical," he commented.
"From my perspective, engaging a distinctly English tutor from early childhood will does not instantly create the result they hope for.
"I did not have that kind of mentor, and however I have been lucky enough to experience many of the experiences they aspire for their son."
He continued: "The truth is, cultural identity should not be forced from the external environment; it must be chosen, and it must originate internally."
Acquiring Englishness
Of course, Britishness is something the expert hopes can be taught – and sold.
"I believe the fact that the international society views us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
