"A family residing in North London seeks an remarkable and experienced tutor to guide their smallest child on his early path to turning into an English gentleman."
Looking at this listing, you might readily miss the term "beginning" as mere a turn of phrase.
Yet, it could be the most significant aspect of this unique job advert, as it aims to recruit a teacher for a one-year-old.
Hundreds of applications have now been received since the unnamed family posted their request for the £180,000 per year tutor, who has to be "someone very special".
Over the last few weeks, the advert has attracted attention in the press, with numerous questioning why?
Forward-Thinking Method
Adam Caller, chief executive of Tutors International, which is assisting the family in their quest, stated that notwithstanding early doubt, he found the idea "forward-looking", and "innovative".
When he consulted the family, he noted they recognized the unusual character of their request, and how early in age their son is.
However, they stated that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had postponed until their older child was five, and by that age "cultural influence had already taken hold".
What precisely does the family indicate by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "everything", he responded. "The way you eat, how you speak".
He stated the firstborn had picked up "really subtle, body language" from the family, and had assumed their cultural ways. The family told him they hoped to prevent history to repeat itself with their younger child.
The plan: To hire a UK tutor, who needs to speak with Received Pronunciation, to shape the baby right from the beginning.
Subtle Influence
"A lot of the education at the beginning here is rather absorbed naturally," explained the expert.
It's via this natural absorption that the family are expecting the child will adopt the UK customs they want to impart.
Adam noted the tutor needed to be an individual who studied at "the right kinds of schools – similar types of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The tutor simply needs to be the right kind of person, they'll be doing things they don't even know they're doing, just naturally," he commented.
Cost Not Relevant
The family told the expert the chosen tutor should ideally also have familiarity of or interest in horse riding, skiing, artistic pursuits and music so as to inspire the child in a broad spectrum of interests.
Furthermore though, he said the family wanted the tutor to register the child on a range of lessons so the child would be "pony-riding and picking up an instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's minds, guiding their son grow into a "English gentleman" will result in achievement and create opportunities.
"Taking into account the pros and cons of that, because it's definitely a class statement," he notes.
Yet, notwithstanding all this tutelage in "English culture", might the child pick up so-called cultural influence from the international family he lives with in any case?
"Yes", answered the CEO. "The family know this could fail, but they've merely embraced the attitude of, 'we should try and let's go as early as we can', because the price of it is irrelevant," he explained.
Overly Optimistic
There are some in the education sector who have those reservations.
Peter Cui, chief executive of an educational organization, who supplies individual instructors, wrote that "the development of embracing two identities, or actually, forming one's identity, is something that must be experienced personally, not manufactured."
The expert explained that he had relocated from the Far East to the United Kingdom at the age of childhood, and had been raised understanding and practicing dual heritages. He went on to learn at a prestigious UK institution.
"The concept that an individual can serve as a embodiment of UK identity, someone who can possibly transplant the attributes of a UK sophisticate to a one-year-old child, appears idealistic and impractical," he wrote.
"From my perspective, engaging a typically English tutor from infancy will not instantly achieve the result they desire.
"I never had such a tutor, and nevertheless I have been fortunate enough to experience several of the experiences they aspire for their son."
He stated: "The reality is, cultural identity cannot be forced from the outside influences; it must be chosen, and it must be internally driven."
Buying Britishness
Of course, Britishness is something Adam believes can be taught – and sold.
"In my view the situation that the global community views us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
