"Parents based in north London wants to find an exceptional and skilled educator to guide their smallest child on his first steps to growing into an English gentleman."
When reading this post, you might readily overlook the term "beginning" as just an expression.
Yet, it could be the most significant aspect of this unusual position posting, as it seeks to hire a tutor for a 12-month-old.
Hundreds of submissions have since been submitted since the anonymous family advertised their search for the £180,000 per year tutor, who has to be "someone very special".
During the past few weeks, the advert has attracted notice across the media, with several asking why?
Innovative Idea
Adam Caller, head and founder of an education consultancy, which is assisting the family in their search, stated that despite first doubt, he found the concept "forward-looking", and "progressive".
When he consulted the family, he said they appreciated the atypical nature of their demand, and how young their son is.
Nevertheless, they clarified that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had postponed until their elder sibling was five, and by that point "cultural conditioning had already set in".
What precisely does the family refer to by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "comprehensive", he responded. "The manner you eat, the manner you speak".
He stated the elder child had absorbed "extremely delicate, unspoken signals" from the family, and had assumed their cultural ways. The family explained to Adam they did not want this pattern to recur with their infant.
The intention: To hire a UK tutor, who must speak with standard English accent, to influence the baby right from the beginning.
Subtle Influence
"Much of the learning at the start here is rather absorbed naturally," explained Adam.
It's through this subtle influence that the family are expecting the child will pick up the British traits they aim to instil.
The consultant said the tutor needed to be someone who went to "the right kinds of schools – the same kinds of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The tutor must be the suitable individual, they'll be performing things they aren't even aware they're doing, effortlessly," he commented.
Cost Not Relevant
The family told the expert the successful candidate should ideally also have familiarity of or passion in riding, skiing, artistic pursuits and music so as to influence the child in a diverse set of hobbies.
More than that though, he stated the family wanted the tutor to sign up the child on a selection of courses so the child would be "horseback riding and learning an tool by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's view, helping their son become a "English gentleman" will result in achievement and open doors.
"Considering the rights and wrongs of that, because it's certainly a class statement," he adds.
But, despite all this tutelage in "English culture", might the child pick up so-called cultural influence from the globally influenced family he resides with anyway?
"Certainly", answered he. "They realize this might not succeed, but they've just taken the view of, 'let's give it a go and we should start as soon as we can', because the cost of it is not a concern," he said.
Overly Optimistic
Several in the education sector who express similar concerns.
Peter Cui, chief executive of a tutoring service, who provides personal educators, stated that "the journey of adopting dual cultures, or actually, discovering oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not designed."
The expert noted that he had emigrated from Asia to the United Kingdom at the time of 7 years old, and had been raised understanding and practicing dual heritages. He went on to be educated at Cambridge University.
"The notion that an individual can serve as a representation of Britishness, a person who can possibly transfer the characteristics of a English gentleman onto a one-year-old child, appears optimistic and unrealistic," he commented.
"From my perspective, employing a distinctly English tutor from babyhood will does not automatically produce the outcome they want.
"I never had such a tutor, and nevertheless I have been lucky enough to experience many of the situations they hope for their son."
He added: "The fact is, personal identity should not be forced from the external environment; it must be selected, and it must come from within."
Acquiring Englishness
Certainly, Britishness is something the CEO believes can be educated – and sold.
"I think the situation that the global community holds us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
