"Parents based in the northern part of London is looking for an remarkable and experienced instructor to assist their youngest child on his initial journey to becoming an English gentleman."
Looking at this advertisement, you might easily miss the wording "beginning" as mere figurative language.
Yet, it could be the crucial element of this unusual job advert, as it aims to recruit a teacher for a one-year-old.
Many of applications have already been sent in since the anonymous family published their request for the £180k-a-year tutor, who has to be "someone very special".
During the past few weeks, the post has gained attention throughout the press, with numerous wondering why?
Progressive Approach
Adam Caller, CEO and founder of an education consultancy, which is assisting the family in their quest, explained that despite early doubt, he found the plan "far sighted", and "progressive".
When he consulted the family, he noted they appreciated the unconventional nature of their requirement, and how young their son is.
But, they explained that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had postponed until their firstborn was five, and by that stage "cultural conditioning had already set in".
What precisely does the family indicate by "cultural leaning"?
It's "all-encompassing", the expert responded. "The manner you eat, how you speak".
He said the older sibling had absorbed "really subtle, body language" from the family, and had assumed their cultural ways. The family told Adam they hoped to prevent history to recur with their younger child.
The strategy: To hire a English tutor, who should speak with standard English accent, to influence the baby from the very start.
Natural Absorption
"A great deal of the learning at the start here is rather osmotic," stated the expert.
It's by means of this osmosis that the family are expecting the child will acquire the UK customs they wish to impart.
Adam said the tutor must be an individual who went to "the right kinds of schools – comparable categories of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The educator just has to be the right kind of person, they'll be carrying out things they don't even know they're doing, effortlessly," he commented.
Cost Not Relevant
The family informed him the selected educator should preferably also have knowledge of or enthusiasm in horse riding, winter sports, creative fields and music so as to inspire the child in a diverse set of interests.
Furthermore though, he stated the family hoped the tutor to enrol the child on a selection of courses so the child would be "horseback riding and starting an instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's perspective, helping their son become a "English gentleman" will lead to success and open doors.
"Taking into account the pros and cons of that, because it's definitely a status symbol," he comments.
However, in spite of all this tutelage in "Britishness", would the child pick up so-called cultural leaning from the international family he lives with regardless?
"Yes", said Adam. "They know this might not succeed, but they've simply adopted the perspective of, 'we should try and we should start as early as we can', because the price of it is not a concern," he said.
Impractical
Several in the tutoring industry who share similar doubts.
An education leader, head and founder of an educational organization, who supplies individual instructors, wrote that "the process of adopting dual cultures, or in fact, discovering oneself, is something that must be grown into, not manufactured."
He explained that he had moved from the Far East to the UK at the age of seven, and had been raised understanding and practicing two backgrounds. He continued to learn at a prestigious UK institution.
"The idea that a single person can function as a representation of Britishness, someone who can somehow transplant the characteristics of a English gentleman onto a 12-month-old child, appears optimistic and unfeasible," he commented.
"In my experience, employing a distinctly British tutor from infancy will will not automatically create the outcome they hope for.
"I wasn't provided with such a figure, and however I have been lucky enough to enjoy many of the experiences they hope for their son."
He stated: "The reality is, cultural identity can not be dictated from the outside; it must be embraced, and it must be internally driven."
Purchasing UK Culture
Of course, UK identity is something Adam believes can be educated – and sold.
"I think the reality that the world views us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
