"Parents based in the northern part of London wants to find an remarkable and experienced educator to guide their youngest child on his initial journey to becoming an British gentleman."
Upon seeing this listing, you might readily skip the phrase "beginning" as simple a turn of phrase.
Yet, it could be the most important element of this distinctive position posting, as it attempts to hire a mentor for a 12-month-old.
Hundreds of submissions have now been received since the unnamed family published their search for the £180k-a-year tutor, who needs to be "a uniquely qualified person".
Over the last few weeks, the post has attracted notice throughout the press, with several wondering why?
Progressive Approach
Adam Caller, CEO and founder of an education consultancy, which is assisting the family in their search, explained that in spite of early skepticism, he considered the concept "visionary", and "innovative".
When he met the family, he said they recognized the atypical character of their request, and how young their son is.
However, they explained that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to get a tutor, as they had held off until their older child was five, and by that stage "cultural bias had by then taken hold".
But what did the family mean by "cultural leaning"?
It's "comprehensive", Adam replied. "The way you eat, how you speak".
He explained the older sibling had absorbed "extremely delicate, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had assumed their cultural habits. The family explained to him they wished to avoid this pattern to happen again with their new baby.
The strategy: To hire a UK tutor, who needs to speak with standard English accent, to guide the baby right from the beginning.
Natural Absorption
"A lot of the development at the outset here is rather acquired indirectly," said Adam.
It's through this subtle influence that the family are aiming the child will pick up the English characteristics they wish to instil.
Adam noted the tutor must be an individual who attended "the appropriate educational institutions – comparable categories of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The tutor must be the suitable individual, they'll be performing things they may not realize they're doing, simply by nature," he said.
Cost Not Relevant
The family told the expert the selected educator should ideally also have knowledge of or enthusiasm in horse riding, skiing, the arts and music so as to influence the child in a diverse set of hobbies.
Furthermore though, he said the family hoped the tutor to sign up the child on a range of lessons so the child would be "horseback riding and starting an tool by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's minds, assisting their son develop into a "UK sophisticate" will lead to achievement and create opportunities.
"Considering the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's certainly a class statement," he comments.
Yet, notwithstanding all this guidance in "English culture", might the child absorb what is termed cultural influence from the multicultural family he lives with in any case?
"Absolutely", said he. "They understand this could fail, but they've just taken the view of, 'we should try and we should start as early as we can', because the price of it is not relevant," he explained.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
Several in the education sector who share these concerns.
An education leader, CEO and founder of Blue Education, who supplies individual instructors, wrote that "the process of embracing two identities, or indeed, becoming oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not designed."
He wrote that he had emigrated from the Far East to the UK at the age of seven, and had been educated experiencing and practicing both cultures. He continued to be educated at Cambridge University.
"The concept that a single person can act as a embodiment of UK identity, a person who can somehow impart the qualities of a English gentleman onto a one-year-old child, appears idealistic and impractical," he wrote.
"Based on my background, employing a distinctly UK tutor from babyhood will does not automatically achieve the outcome they desire.
"I wasn't provided with such a tutor, and nevertheless I have been privileged enough to experience several of the opportunities they aspire for their son."
He continued: "The truth is, cultural identity can not be dictated from the external environment; it must be embraced, and it must come from within."
Purchasing UK Culture
Naturally, English culture is something the CEO hopes can be instructed – and commercialized.
"I think the fact that the international society views us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
