"Parents residing in North London seeks an exceptional and skilled tutor to guide their smallest child on his initial journey to growing into an British gentleman."
When reading this post, you might easily miss the phrase "beginning" as mere figurative language.
Yet, it may be the most significant aspect of this unusual position posting, as it seeks to find a tutor for a one-year-old.
Numerous of applications have already been submitted since the unnamed family published their call for the £180k-a-year tutor, who needs to be "a uniquely qualified person".
Over the last few weeks, the post has attracted interest in the news, with many questioning why?
Progressive Approach
Adam Caller, CEO and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is assisting the family in their quest, said that notwithstanding first scepticism, he considered the plan "far sighted", and "advanced".
When he spoke with the family, he mentioned they understood the atypical character of their request, and how early in age their son is.
But, they clarified that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to get a tutor, as they had waited until their elder sibling was five, and by that point "cultural influence had by then become established".
What exactly did the family indicate by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "everything", Adam responded. "The manner you eat, the manner you speak".
He stated the older sibling had adopted "very nuanced, body language" from the family, and had taken on their cultural norms. The family told Adam they did not want the same situation to repeat itself with their infant.
The plan: To bring in a UK tutor, who needs to speak with RP, to shape the baby from the very start.
Osmotic Learning
"Much of the learning at the outset here is kind of absorbed naturally," said the CEO.
It's by means of this osmosis that the family are expecting the child will pick up the English characteristics they aim to impart.
The consultant noted the tutor must be someone who went to "the appropriate educational institutions – comparable categories of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The educator must be the appropriate candidate, they'll be doing things they aren't even aware they're doing, effortlessly," he added.
Money No Object
The family told the expert the successful candidate should ideally also have understanding of or passion in riding, winter sports, creative fields and music so as to influence the child in a diverse set of passions.
Furthermore though, he said the family desired the tutor to register the child on a selection of courses so the child would be "horseback riding and starting an tool by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's minds, guiding their son develop into a "British gentleman" will bring about achievement and create opportunities.
"Considering the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's undoubtedly a social class indicator," he notes.
Yet, notwithstanding all this guidance in "Britishness", could the child adopt what is termed cultural bias from the globally influenced family he lives with anyway?
"Certainly", said the CEO. "The family understand this may not work, but they've just taken the perspective of, 'we should try and let's go as early as we can', because the price of it is irrelevant," he stated.
Overly Optimistic
Several in the education sector who express these doubts.
Another CEO, head and founder of Blue Education, who provides individual instructors, stated that "the journey of adopting dual cultures, or actually, becoming oneself, is something that must be grown into, not engineered."
He explained that he had relocated from Asia to the UK at the time of 7 years old, and had been brought up understanding and living two backgrounds. He progressed to be educated at the University of Cambridge.
"The notion that an individual can serve as a embodiment of UK identity, a person who can somehow impart the characteristics of a UK sophisticate upon a one-year-old child, appears optimistic and impractical," he wrote.
"Based on my background, engaging a quintessentially English tutor from infancy will does not automatically create the outcome they hope for.
"I did not have such a figure, and however I have been lucky enough to experience several of the experiences they hope for their son."
He continued: "The reality is, cultural identity can not be forced from the outside influences; it must be chosen, and it must originate internally."
Acquiring Englishness
Certainly, UK identity is something the CEO hopes can be educated – and commercialized.
"I think the reality that the global community regards us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
