"Parents residing in North London is looking for an remarkable and skilled instructor to guide their most junior child on his early path to growing into an British gentleman."
Upon seeing this advertisement, you might easily overlook the wording "beginning" as simple figurative language.
But, it could be the most significant part of this unique job advert, as it attempts to recruit a mentor for a infant.
Numerous of responses have already been sent in since the anonymous family posted their request for the £180,000 per year tutor, who has to be "someone very special".
During the past few weeks, the listing has attracted attention throughout the media, with several asking why?
Innovative Idea
Adam Caller, chief executive of Tutors International, which is helping the family in their quest, explained that in spite of initial skepticism, he viewed the idea "far sighted", and "advanced".
When he spoke with the family, he noted they recognized the unconventional nature of their requirement, and how early in age their son is.
But, they clarified that they "preferred not to postpone 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 precisely does the family refer to by "cultural bias"?
It's "all-encompassing", he answered. "How you eat, how you speak".
He explained the elder child had adopted "very nuanced, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had assumed their cultural habits. The family informed him they hoped to prevent the same situation to recur with their younger child.
The plan: To engage a English tutor, who must speak with Received Pronunciation, to guide the baby right from the beginning.
Subtle Influence
"A great deal of the development at the outset here is somewhat osmotic," explained Adam.
It's via this subtle influence that the family are hoping the child will adopt the English characteristics they aim to instil.
Adam said the tutor must be someone who attended "prestigious academies – 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 carrying out things they don't even know they're doing, effortlessly," he said.
Expense Not a Factor
The family informed him the successful candidate should preferably also have knowledge of or passion in riding, winter sports, the arts and music so as to influence the child in a wide range of hobbies.
More than that though, he explained the family hoped the tutor to register the child on a range of lessons so the child would be "horseback riding and picking up an tool by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's perspective, helping their son become a "British gentleman" will bring about accomplishment and provide access.
"For all the pros and cons of that, because it's definitely a class statement," he notes.
Yet, notwithstanding all this guidance in "English culture", would the child absorb so-called cultural bias from the international family he resides with in any case?
"Yes", replied the CEO. "The family understand this might not succeed, but they've merely embraced the attitude of, 'let's give it a go and we'll proceed as quickly as we can', because the cost of it is irrelevant," he said.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
There are some in the education sector who express those doubts.
Peter Cui, head and founder of Blue Education, who supplies individual instructors, wrote that "the process of embracing two identities, or actually, forming one's identity, is something that must be experienced personally, not designed."
Peter noted that he had emigrated from the Far East to the UK at the time of childhood, and had been raised knowing and living two backgrounds. He continued to learn at a prestigious UK institution.
"The concept that an individual can act as a embodiment of UK identity, a person who can in some way transfer the attributes of a UK sophisticate to a infant child, appears naive and impractical," he commented.
"Based on my background, engaging a typically British tutor from early childhood will does not instantly achieve the result they desire.
"I never had such a figure, and nevertheless I have been privileged enough to live many of the situations they hope for their son."
He added: "The fact is, personal identity should not be dictated from the external environment; it must be selected, and it must be internally driven."
Purchasing UK Culture
Certainly, Britishness is something the CEO thinks can be taught – and commercialized.
"In my view the fact that the world regards us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
