"Parents residing in north London is looking for an extraordinary and qualified educator to support their smallest child on his first steps to growing into an English gentleman."
Looking at this advertisement, you might easily miss the term "first-steps" as simple a turn of phrase.
However, it may be the most important element of this unusual employment listing, as it attempts to find a teacher for a one-year-old.
Hundreds of applications have now been sent in since the unidentified family posted their request for the £180,000 per year tutor, who needs to be "an exceptional individual".
During the past few weeks, the post has attracted attention across the news, with numerous asking why?
Forward-Thinking Method
Adam Caller, chief executive of a global tutoring firm, which is assisting the family in their hunt, stated that notwithstanding first skepticism, he found the plan "visionary", and "progressive".
When he spoke with the family, he mentioned they recognized the unusual aspect of their request, and how early in age their son is.
However, they clarified that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had held off until their elder sibling was five, and by that point "cultural conditioning had by then taken hold".
But what did the family indicate by "cultural leaning"?
It's "all-encompassing", Adam answered. "How you eat, the manner you speak".
He said the elder child had adopted "very nuanced, unspoken signals" from the family, and had assumed their cultural ways. The family explained to him they hoped to prevent history to happen again with their new baby.
The intention: To bring in a British tutor, who should speak with standard English accent, to influence the baby right from the beginning.
Subtle Influence
"A great deal of the learning at the outset here is kind of osmotic," said Adam.
It's through this osmosis that the family are aiming the child will acquire the UK customs they wish to instil.
Adam said the tutor needed to be someone who attended "the right kinds of schools – comparable categories of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The educator must be the right kind of person, they'll be performing things they may not realize they're doing, simply by nature," he said.
Money No Object
The family told the expert the selected educator should ideally also have understanding of or passion in riding, skiing, creative fields and instrumental training so as to inspire the child in a wide range of interests.
More than that though, he said the family wanted the tutor to enrol the child on a variety of courses so the child would be "equestrian training and picking up an instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's minds, assisting their son grow into a "British gentleman" will lead to accomplishment and open doors.
"For all the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's undoubtedly a status symbol," he adds.
But, in spite of all this tutelage in "Britishness", could the child adopt what is termed cultural bias from the multicultural family he is raised by anyway?
"Absolutely", replied Adam. "The family understand this may not work, but they've just taken the view of, 'we should try and we should start as soon as we can', because the expense of it is not relevant," he stated.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
There are some in the private teaching field who share these concerns.
Another CEO, head and founder of Blue Education, who supplies personal educators, wrote that "the development of embracing two identities, or actually, forming one's identity, is something that must be grown into, not engineered."
He noted that he had emigrated from the Far East to the Britain at the period of seven, and had been educated knowing and practicing two backgrounds. He went on to study at the University of Cambridge.
"The concept that one individual can serve as a living vessel of English culture, someone who can possibly transfer the attributes of a British gentleman upon a 12-month-old child, appears optimistic and impractical," he wrote.
"From my perspective, engaging a quintessentially British tutor from babyhood will does not automatically produce the goal they desire.
"I never had such a figure, and nevertheless I have been fortunate enough to enjoy numerous of the experiences they aspire for their son."
He continued: "The reality is, cultural identity should not be forced from the outside influences; it must be chosen, and it must come from within."
Acquiring Englishness
Naturally, UK identity is something the expert hopes can be instructed – and sold.
"I believe the reality that the international society regards us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
