"A household located in north London wants to find an extraordinary and experienced educator to guide their smallest child on his early path to becoming an English gentleman."
Upon seeing this post, you might readily miss the term "beginning" as mere a turn of phrase.
Yet, it may be the most important part of this unique employment listing, as it attempts to recruit a teacher for a one-year-old.
Hundreds of submissions have already been received since the unidentified family published their request for the £180,000 per year tutor, who must be "someone very special".
During the past few weeks, the post has attracted interest across the news, with several wondering why?
Progressive Approach
The CEO, CEO and founder of Tutors International, which is helping the family in their hunt, explained that in spite of first doubt, he viewed the plan "forward-looking", and "advanced".
When he spoke with the family, he noted they appreciated the unusual aspect of their request, and how young their son is.
However, they stated that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to get a tutor, as they had held off until their older child was five, and by that point "cultural bias had already become established".
But what did the family indicate by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "comprehensive", the expert responded. "The way you eat, the manner you speak".
He explained the firstborn had picked up "really subtle, unspoken signals" from the family, and had assumed their cultural norms. The family told the consultant they wished to avoid this pattern to repeat itself with their new baby.
The strategy: To hire a British tutor, who needs to speak with standard English accent, to influence the baby right from the beginning.
Subtle Influence
"Much of the education at the beginning here is somewhat absorbed naturally," explained the expert.
It's through this subtle influence that the family are hoping the child will acquire the English characteristics they aim to cultivate.
The consultant explained the tutor must be someone who studied at "the appropriate educational institutions – the same kinds of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The instructor simply needs to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be performing things they aren't even aware they're doing, just naturally," he said.
Cost Not Relevant
The family informed Adam the chosen tutor should preferably also have familiarity of or passion in horse riding, winter sports, creative fields and musical activities so as to influence the child in a wide range of interests.
More than that though, he explained the family hoped the tutor to enrol the child on a range of classes so the child would be "pony-riding and starting an tool by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's minds, guiding their son become a "UK sophisticate" will lead to success and create opportunities.
"Taking into account the pros and cons of that, because it's definitely a class statement," he adds.
Yet, in spite of all this instruction in "UK identity", might the child adopt so-called cultural bias from the globally influenced family he resides with in any case?
"Yes", replied he. "They understand this may not work, but they've simply adopted the attitude of, 'why not attempt it and let's go as early as we can', because the expense of it is not a concern," he stated.
Overly Optimistic
There are some in the education sector who share these concerns.
An education leader, chief executive of Blue Education, who provides personal educators, commented that "the process of embracing two identities, or actually, forming one's identity, is something that must be experienced personally, not engineered."
He wrote that he had moved from Asia to the United Kingdom at the age of seven, and had been educated knowing and embodying both cultures. He went on to study at a prestigious UK institution.
"The idea that an individual can act as a embodiment of English culture, someone who can somehow transfer the attributes of a English gentleman to a one-year-old child, strikes me as idealistic and unrealistic," he stated.
"From my perspective, engaging a quintessentially English tutor from infancy will will not automatically achieve the goal they want.
"I did not have such a figure, and nevertheless I have been lucky enough to experience several of the opportunities they aspire for their son."
He added: "The fact is, cultural identity can not be imposed from the external environment; it must be selected, and it must come from within."
Purchasing UK Culture
Naturally, English culture is something the CEO thinks can be educated – and sold.
"In my view the reality that the international society regards us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating