"A household based in North London is looking for an exceptional and qualified instructor to support their smallest child on his first steps to turning into an English gentleman."
Upon seeing this advertisement, you might naturally overlook the term "beginning" as simple an expression.
Yet, it may be the crucial element of this unique employment listing, as it attempts to hire a mentor for a 12-month-old.
Hundreds of submissions have since been received since the unnamed family advertised their request for the £180,000 per year tutor, who needs to be "someone very special".
During the past few weeks, the listing has gained interest across the media, with numerous questioning why?
Innovative Idea
Adam Caller, CEO and founder of an education consultancy, which is supporting the family in their hunt, explained that notwithstanding early skepticism, he considered the idea "visionary", and "advanced".
When he met the family, he noted they understood the unusual nature of their requirement, and how young their son is.
Nevertheless, they stated that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had waited until their elder sibling was five, and by that stage "cultural conditioning had already set in".
But what did the family indicate by "cultural bias"?
It's "everything", Adam replied. "How you eat, the manner you speak".
He said the firstborn had picked up "extremely delicate, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had adopted their cultural habits. The family told Adam they wished to avoid the same situation to happen again with their infant.
The strategy: To engage a UK tutor, who should speak with Received Pronunciation, to shape the baby from day one.
Natural Absorption
"Much of the learning at the outset here is somewhat acquired indirectly," said Adam.
It's through this osmosis that the family are aiming the child will adopt the UK customs they wish to instil.
Adam explained the tutor needed to be someone who attended "the right kinds of schools – similar types of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The instructor just has to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be performing things they don't even know they're doing, just naturally," he said.
Expense Not a Factor
The family told Adam the selected educator should preferably also have knowledge of or passion in horse riding, winter sports, the arts and musical activities so as to inspire the child in a broad spectrum of passions.
Furthermore though, he stated the family hoped the tutor to register the child on a range of classes so the child would be "horseback riding and starting an musical instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's minds, helping their son become a "British gentleman" will bring about achievement and create opportunities.
"Taking into account the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's definitely a class statement," he comments.
However, despite all this instruction in "English culture", would the child adopt what is termed cultural leaning from the international family he is raised by anyway?
"Absolutely", replied Adam. "The family understand this might not succeed, but they've simply adopted the view of, 'why not attempt it and let's go as early as we can', because the cost of it is irrelevant," he said.
Overly Optimistic
Several in the private teaching field who express these reservations.
An education leader, chief executive of an educational organization, who supplies individual instructors, wrote that "the journey of embracing two identities, or indeed, forming one's identity, is something that must be lived into, not manufactured."
The expert explained that he had emigrated from Asia to the Britain at the period of childhood, and had been educated knowing and practicing two backgrounds. He continued to study at a prestigious UK institution.
"The notion that a single person can serve as a embodiment of UK identity, a person who can somehow transfer the qualities of a British gentleman to a infant child, strikes me as naive and impractical," he commented.
"Based on my background, employing a distinctly British tutor from infancy will will not necessarily produce the result they desire.
"I did not have that kind of mentor, and yet I have been lucky enough to experience several of the opportunities they desire for their son."
He stated: "The reality is, self-identity cannot be forced from the outside influences; it must be chosen, and it must be internally driven."
Purchasing UK Culture
Naturally, UK identity is something the CEO believes can be educated – and marketed.
"I think the situation that the international society regards us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
