"A family residing in north London wants to find an extraordinary and experienced educator to support their smallest child on his first steps to turning into an English gentleman."
When reading this listing, you might easily miss the phrase "first-steps" as simple figurative language.
Yet, it might be the crucial part of this unique position posting, as it seeks to recruit a mentor for a 12-month-old.
Many of submissions have since been submitted since the unidentified family advertised their request for the £180,000 per year tutor, who has to be "a uniquely qualified person".
In recent few weeks, the post has gained interest throughout the press, with numerous questioning why?
Forward-Thinking Method
A tutoring expert, chief executive of a global tutoring firm, which is helping the family in their search, explained that notwithstanding early doubt, he considered the concept "far sighted", and "innovative".
When he spoke with the family, he noted they appreciated the unconventional aspect of their requirement, and how immature their son is.
However, they clarified that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had waited until their firstborn was five, and by that stage "cultural bias had already become established".
What exactly does the family mean by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "all-encompassing", the expert answered. "The manner you eat, the way you speak".
He explained the firstborn had picked up "really subtle, unspoken signals" from the family, and had assumed their cultural ways. The family explained to him they did not want this pattern to happen again with their younger child.
The strategy: To engage a UK tutor, who must speak with Received Pronunciation, to influence the baby from day one.
Natural Absorption
"A lot of the development at the start here is rather absorbed naturally," said the CEO.
It's through this natural absorption that the family are expecting the child will acquire the English characteristics they aim to instil.
The consultant noted the tutor must be somebody who studied at "the right kinds of schools – similar types of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The instructor must be the right kind of person, they'll be carrying out things they aren't even aware they're doing, simply by nature," he added.
Money No Object
The family explained to the expert the successful candidate should ideally also have understanding of or interest in horse riding, alpine skiing, artistic pursuits and instrumental training so as to shape the child in a diverse set of hobbies.
Furthermore though, he said the family desired the tutor to register the child on a range of lessons so the child would be "pony-riding and picking up an musical instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's perspective, assisting their son grow into a "UK sophisticate" will result in achievement and create opportunities.
"For all the rights and wrongs of that, because it's certainly a status symbol," he comments.
However, in spite of all this guidance in "Britishness", could the child adopt so-called cultural bias from the multicultural family he resides with regardless?
"Certainly", said he. "They understand this might not succeed, but they've just taken the attitude of, 'let's give it a go and we should start as early as we can', because the price of it is irrelevant," he explained.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
A number of in the education sector who share those reservations.
Peter Cui, head and founder of an educational organization, who also offer private tutors, wrote that "the development of embracing two identities, or in fact, discovering oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not designed."
Peter noted that he had emigrated from Asia to the Britain at the age of 7 years old, and had been brought up knowing and practicing two backgrounds. He went on to study at a prestigious UK institution.
"The idea that one individual can act as a living vessel of English culture, someone who can somehow impart the attributes of a British gentleman to a infant child, appears idealistic and unfeasible," he commented.
"From my perspective, having a quintessentially UK tutor from infancy will does not necessarily create the outcome they desire.
"I never had that kind of mentor, and nevertheless I have been fortunate enough to enjoy several of the situations they aspire for their son."
He stated: "The fact is, personal identity can not be dictated from the outside; it must be chosen, and it must come from within."
Acquiring Englishness
Certainly, UK identity is something Adam thinks can be instructed – and sold.
"I think the situation that the international society holds us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
