"Parents based in the northern part of London is looking for an exceptional and skilled tutor to support their smallest child on his early path to becoming an British gentleman."
When reading this advertisement, you might naturally overlook the phrase "beginning" as simple figurative language.
But, it might be the crucial aspect of this unusual employment listing, as it aims to hire a tutor for a 12-month-old.
Hundreds of submissions have since been submitted since the anonymous family advertised their search for the £180k-a-year tutor, who must be "a uniquely qualified person".
During the past few weeks, the post has gained notice throughout the news, with several wondering why?
Forward-Thinking Method
Adam Caller, head and founder of Tutors International, which is supporting the family in their search, said that in spite of early skepticism, he found the plan "visionary", and "advanced".
When he spoke with the family, he noted they appreciated the unconventional aspect of their request, and how immature their son is.
However, they explained that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had postponed until their older child was five, and by that stage "cultural conditioning had already set in".
But what did the family refer to by "cultural leaning"?
It's "comprehensive", he answered. "The way you eat, the way you speak".
He said the firstborn had adopted "very nuanced, body language" from the family, and had taken on their cultural ways. The family informed him they hoped to prevent this pattern to repeat itself with their infant.
The strategy: To hire a UK tutor, who must speak with RP, to guide the baby right from the beginning.
Natural Absorption
"A great deal of the education at the outset here is somewhat acquired indirectly," said the expert.
It's by means of this osmosis that the family are hoping the child will acquire the English characteristics they wish to instil.
He said the tutor needed to be an individual who attended "the right kinds of schools – comparable categories of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The instructor simply needs to be the suitable individual, they'll be performing things they may not realize they're doing, simply by nature," he said.
Expense Not a Factor
The family explained to him the successful candidate should preferably also have knowledge of or enthusiasm in riding, winter sports, artistic pursuits and music so as to inspire the child in a diverse set of hobbies.
More than that though, he explained the family hoped the tutor to register the child on a variety of classes so the child would be "horseback riding and starting an tool by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's view, assisting their son develop into a "UK sophisticate" will lead to accomplishment and open doors.
"For all the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's undoubtedly a social class indicator," he adds.
But, notwithstanding all this guidance in "Britishness", might the child adopt alleged cultural bias from the international family he resides with anyway?
"Yes", answered the CEO. "They understand this may not work, but they've merely embraced the view of, 'let's give it a go and let's go as soon as we can', because the price of it is not relevant," he said.
Impractical
Several in the private teaching field who have these reservations.
An education leader, head and founder of Blue Education, who supplies private tutors, commented that "the development of adopting dual cultures, or indeed, discovering oneself, is something that must be lived into, not manufactured."
He noted that he had moved from the Far East to the UK at the time of seven, and had been educated knowing and embodying both cultures. He continued to learn at Cambridge University.
"The notion that one individual can function as a representation of UK identity, someone who can somehow transfer the characteristics of a UK sophisticate onto a infant child, strikes me as naive and impractical," he commented.
"From my perspective, engaging a typically British tutor from babyhood will will not necessarily achieve the outcome they desire.
"I never had such a figure, and nevertheless I have been lucky enough to enjoy numerous of the situations they aspire for their son."
He added: "The truth is, personal identity can not be forced from the external environment; it must be chosen, and it must be internally driven."
Purchasing UK Culture
Certainly, UK identity is something Adam hopes can be educated – and marketed.
"I believe the reality that the global community holds us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
