"A household residing in North London wants to find an extraordinary and experienced instructor to guide their most junior child on his initial journey to becoming an English gentleman."
When reading this post, you might readily overlook the term "beginning" as simple an expression.
However, it may be the most important part of this unique job advert, as it aims to find a mentor for a one-year-old.
Hundreds of submissions have already been submitted since the unnamed family posted their search for the £180k-a-year tutor, who needs to be "a uniquely qualified person".
During the past few weeks, the advert has gained interest in the media, with numerous wondering why?
Innovative Idea
Adam Caller, chief executive of an education consultancy, which is supporting the family in their hunt, said that in spite of first scepticism, he considered the plan "visionary", and "advanced".
When he met the family, he mentioned they recognized the unconventional aspect of their requirement, and how immature their son is.
But, they stated that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had postponed until their elder sibling was five, and by that stage "cultural conditioning had already become established".
What precisely does the family indicate by "cultural leaning"?
It's "everything", the expert answered. "How you eat, the manner you speak".
He explained the firstborn had picked up "very nuanced, unspoken signals" from the family, and had assumed their cultural habits. The family informed Adam they did not want history to happen again with their younger child.
The plan: To hire a British tutor, who must speak with RP, to influence the baby from the very start.
Subtle Influence
"A lot of the education at the start here is kind of absorbed naturally," said Adam.
It's through this natural absorption that the family are hoping the child will pick up the British traits they wish to cultivate.
He explained the tutor needed to be somebody who attended "the appropriate educational institutions – the same kinds of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The tutor simply needs to be the right kind of person, they'll be carrying out things they don't even know they're doing, effortlessly," he added.
Money No Object
The family informed him the selected educator should ideally also have understanding of or passion in horse riding, alpine skiing, artistic pursuits and music so as to inspire the child in a wide range of hobbies.
Furthermore though, he said the family hoped the tutor to enrol the child on a range of lessons so the child would be "horseback riding and learning an tool by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's minds, assisting their son grow into a "UK sophisticate" will result in accomplishment and provide access.
"Considering the rights and wrongs of that, because it's undoubtedly a status symbol," he comments.
Yet, notwithstanding all this instruction in "UK identity", might the child adopt what is termed cultural leaning from the international family he is raised by anyway?
"Yes", said Adam. "The family know this could fail, but they've just taken the perspective of, 'why not attempt it and let's go as soon as we can', because the cost of it is irrelevant," he explained.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
There are some in the education sector who share these doubts.
An education leader, CEO and founder of a tutoring service, who provides personal educators, commented that "the process of becoming bicultural, or in fact, discovering oneself, is something that must be grown into, not manufactured."
Peter explained that he had emigrated from the Far East to the United Kingdom at the age of 7 years old, and had been educated experiencing and embodying dual heritages. He went on to be educated at the University of Cambridge.
"The idea that an individual can serve as a living vessel of English culture, someone who can in some way impart the qualities of a UK sophisticate to a 12-month-old child, seems to me idealistic and impractical," he wrote.
"In my experience, having a distinctly English tutor from babyhood will will not necessarily produce the outcome they desire.
"I wasn't provided with such a tutor, and yet I have been lucky enough to experience several of the experiences they aspire for their son."
He continued: "The fact is, self-identity should not be dictated from the external environment; it must be embraced, and it must come from within."
Acquiring Englishness
Certainly, Britishness is something the CEO believes can be educated – and sold.
"I believe the situation that the global community views us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
