"A family based in north London wants to find an exceptional and qualified educator to guide their youngest child on his first steps to growing into an British gentleman."
When reading this listing, you might readily overlook the wording "beginning" as just a turn of phrase.
But, it may be the most significant aspect of this unusual job advert, as it attempts to hire a mentor for a 12-month-old.
Hundreds of applications have now been submitted since the unidentified family advertised their search for the highly paid tutor, who must be "someone very special".
During the past few weeks, the post has attracted attention throughout the media, with several questioning why?
Progressive Approach
Adam Caller, chief executive of an education consultancy, which is supporting the family in their hunt, explained that notwithstanding early doubt, he viewed the plan "forward-looking", and "innovative".
When he spoke with the family, he noted they appreciated the atypical nature of their request, and how young their son is.
But, they stated that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had waited until their firstborn was five, and by that age "cultural influence had by then taken hold".
What exactly did the family refer to by "cultural bias"?
It's "everything", Adam responded. "How you eat, how you speak".
He explained the older sibling had absorbed "very nuanced, unspoken signals" from the family, and had assumed their cultural habits. The family told the consultant they hoped to prevent this pattern to happen again with their younger child.
The strategy: To bring in a British tutor, who needs to speak with Received Pronunciation, to guide the baby from the very start.
Osmotic Learning
"A great deal of the learning at the beginning here is kind of acquired indirectly," explained Adam.
It's by means of this natural absorption that the family are aiming the child will adopt the UK customs they aim to instil.
Adam said the tutor must be someone who went to "the appropriate educational institutions – similar types of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The instructor simply needs to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be doing things they may not realize they're doing, just naturally," he said.
Money No Object
The family informed Adam the selected educator should preferably also have understanding of or interest in horse riding, winter sports, creative fields and instrumental training so as to influence the child in a diverse set of passions.
Furthermore though, he said the family hoped the tutor to register the child on a range of courses so the child would be "equestrian training and starting an tool by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's view, assisting their son become a "English gentleman" will result in success and open doors.
"For all the pros and cons of that, because it's undoubtedly a status symbol," he notes.
However, in spite of all this tutelage in "Britishness", would the child adopt so-called cultural influence from the globally influenced family he lives with regardless?
"Absolutely", said Adam. "The family realize this could fail, but they've simply adopted the perspective of, 'let's give it a go and we'll proceed as soon as we can', because the expense of it is irrelevant," he said.
Impractical
Several in the tutoring industry who have those concerns.
Peter Cui, CEO and founder of an educational organization, who provides individual instructors, commented that "the journey of adopting dual cultures, or indeed, becoming oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not manufactured."
The expert wrote that he had relocated from China to the United Kingdom at the period of seven, and had been raised experiencing and practicing both cultures. He went on to study at a prestigious UK institution.
"The concept that an individual can act as a representation of UK identity, an individual who can in some way impart the qualities of a English gentleman onto a one-year-old child, seems to me naive and unrealistic," he wrote.
"Based on my background, engaging a quintessentially English tutor from babyhood will does not automatically achieve the result they want.
"I wasn't provided with such a tutor, and yet I have been lucky enough to experience numerous of the opportunities they aspire for their son."
He continued: "The reality is, personal identity cannot be forced from the external environment; it must be chosen, and it must be internally driven."
Purchasing UK Culture
Of course, UK identity is something Adam believes can be taught – and marketed.
"I believe the reality that the world views us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
