"A family residing in north London wants to find an extraordinary and skilled instructor to guide their smallest child on his first steps to becoming an British gentleman."
Looking at this advertisement, you might easily overlook the phrase "first-steps" as just an expression.
However, it could be the crucial aspect of this unique position posting, as it aims to find a mentor for a 12-month-old.
Hundreds of applications have since been received since the unnamed family posted their search for the £180k-a-year tutor, who must be "someone very special".
Over the last few weeks, the listing has attracted interest throughout the news, with several asking why?
Innovative Idea
The CEO, head and founder of Tutors International, which is assisting the family in their hunt, stated that despite initial doubt, he viewed the plan "visionary", and "progressive".
When he spoke with the family, he mentioned they understood the unconventional nature of their request, and how immature their son is.
However, they explained 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 point "cultural influence had already taken hold".
What exactly does the family mean by "cultural leaning"?
It's "everything", he replied. "The way you eat, the manner you speak".
He stated the older sibling had adopted "very nuanced, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had assumed their cultural ways. The family informed the consultant they hoped to prevent the same situation to happen again with their infant.
The plan: To bring in a UK tutor, who needs to speak with RP, to shape the baby right from the beginning.
Osmotic Learning
"Much of the development at the outset here is kind of absorbed naturally," stated the CEO.
It's via this osmosis that the family are hoping the child will adopt the British traits they want to impart.
Adam noted the tutor needed to be an individual who studied at "the appropriate educational institutions – the same kinds of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The instructor simply needs to be the right kind of person, they'll be carrying out things they don't even know they're doing, effortlessly," he added.
Expense Not a Factor
The family told him the selected educator should ideally also have understanding of or passion in riding, alpine skiing, artistic pursuits and musical activities so as to shape the child in a diverse set of passions.
More than that though, he said the family wanted the tutor to enrol the child on a range of courses so the child would be "horseback riding and picking up an instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's perspective, helping their son become a "English gentleman" will bring about achievement and create opportunities.
"Taking into account the pros and cons of that, because it's undoubtedly a social class indicator," he adds.
Yet, despite all this guidance in "UK identity", could the child pick up what is termed cultural leaning from the globally influenced family he lives with regardless?
"Absolutely", said Adam. "They understand this might not succeed, but they've merely embraced the perspective of, 'why not attempt it and we'll proceed as quickly as we can', because the cost of it is not a concern," he explained.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
Several in the education sector who have those reservations.
Another CEO, head and founder of a tutoring service, who also offer private tutors, wrote that "the development of becoming bicultural, or in fact, becoming oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not manufactured."
He wrote that he had emigrated from Asia to the United Kingdom at the period of 7 years old, and had been brought up understanding and practicing dual heritages. He went on to be educated at Cambridge University.
"The idea that an individual can serve as a living vessel of UK identity, someone who can somehow impart the attributes of a British gentleman to a infant child, seems to me naive and unrealistic," he stated.
"From my perspective, employing a distinctly British tutor from babyhood will does not automatically produce the result they want.
"I wasn't provided with such a figure, and however I have been privileged enough to live several of the experiences they desire for their son."
He added: "The truth is, self-identity should not be dictated from the external environment; it must be embraced, and it must come from within."
Acquiring Englishness
Certainly, English culture is something the CEO hopes can be educated – and commercialized.
"I think the reality that the international society views us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
