"A household residing in north London is looking for an exceptional and skilled educator to guide their smallest child on his first steps to growing into an British gentleman."
Upon seeing this post, you might naturally overlook the wording "first-steps" as just an expression.
Yet, it might be the most important part of this unusual job advert, as it attempts to find a mentor for a infant.
Hundreds of submissions have now been sent in since the unnamed family published their search for the £180,000 per year tutor, who has to be "a uniquely qualified person".
During the past few weeks, the post has received attention across the press, with numerous wondering why?
Innovative Idea
Adam Caller, chief executive of Tutors International, which is helping the family in their search, said that despite early skepticism, he considered the idea "forward-looking", and "advanced".
When he consulted the family, he noted they appreciated the atypical nature of their requirement, and how early in age their son is.
But, they stated that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had postponed until their older child was five, and by that stage "cultural conditioning had by then set in".
But what does the family indicate by "cultural leaning"?
It's "everything", Adam replied. "How you eat, how you speak".
He stated the elder child had adopted "very nuanced, body language" from the family, and had taken on their cultural habits. The family informed him they wished to avoid this pattern to repeat itself with their new baby.
The strategy: To bring in a British tutor, who must speak with RP, to influence the baby from the very start.
Natural Absorption
"Much of the development at the start here is somewhat absorbed naturally," said the CEO.
It's via this osmosis that the family are expecting the child will pick up the English characteristics they want to cultivate.
Adam explained the tutor needed to be an individual who studied at "the appropriate educational institutions – comparable categories of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The educator simply needs to be the suitable individual, they'll be performing things they don't even know they're doing, simply by nature," he added.
Cost Not Relevant
The family told him the chosen tutor should ideally also have familiarity of or enthusiasm in riding, alpine skiing, the arts and music so as to inspire the child in a wide range of interests.
More than that though, he stated the family wanted the tutor to enrol the child on a range of classes so the child would be "equestrian training and picking up an instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's minds, assisting their son develop into a "British gentleman" will lead to accomplishment and provide access.
"Considering the rights and wrongs of that, because it's undoubtedly a status symbol," he adds.
However, despite all this instruction in "UK identity", would the child pick up what is termed cultural bias from the international family he lives with regardless?
"Certainly", replied he. "They realize this could fail, but they've merely embraced the attitude of, 'we should try and let's go as soon as we can', because the cost of it is not relevant," he explained.
Overly Optimistic
Several in the education sector who share those doubts.
Peter Cui, head and founder of a tutoring service, who also offer personal educators, stated that "the development of embracing two identities, or actually, becoming oneself, is something that must be lived into, not designed."
He wrote that he had emigrated from the Far East to the United Kingdom at the time of childhood, and had been educated knowing and living dual heritages. He continued to learn at a prestigious UK institution.
"The idea that a single person can serve as a embodiment of UK identity, an individual who can in some way impart the qualities of a British gentleman upon a one-year-old child, seems to me optimistic and unfeasible," he stated.
"Based on my background, having a distinctly English tutor from infancy will will not automatically create the goal they want.
"I never had such a figure, and however I have been fortunate enough to experience several of the experiences they aspire for their son."
He continued: "The truth is, cultural identity can not be imposed from the external environment; it must be selected, and it must be internally driven."
Buying Britishness
Certainly, UK identity is something the CEO believes can be instructed – and marketed.
"In my view the reality that the global community regards us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
