"A household based in north London is looking for an extraordinary and qualified educator to support their smallest child on his first steps to growing into an British gentleman."
Upon seeing this listing, you might easily miss the wording "beginning" as mere an expression.
Yet, it may be the most important aspect of this unique position posting, as it attempts to recruit a mentor for a 12-month-old.
Numerous of responses have now been received since the anonymous family posted their search for the £180k-a-year tutor, who must be "a uniquely qualified person".
In recent few weeks, the post has gained attention across the press, with many questioning why?
Progressive Approach
A tutoring expert, chief executive of an education consultancy, which is assisting the family in their hunt, said that in spite of early doubt, he considered the idea "far sighted", and "progressive".
When he spoke with the family, he noted they understood the unusual character of their request, and how immature their son is.
However, they explained that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had held off until their older child was five, and by that point "cultural bias had already taken hold".
But what does the family mean by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "all-encompassing", he answered. "The way you eat, the way you speak".
He stated the elder child had adopted "very nuanced, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had adopted their cultural ways. The family explained to him they wished to avoid this pattern to happen again with their infant.
The intention: To hire a UK tutor, who should speak with standard English accent, to shape the baby right from the beginning.
Osmotic Learning
"Much of the education at the start here is somewhat osmotic," explained the CEO.
It's by means of this subtle influence that the family are aiming the child will pick up the English characteristics they wish to cultivate.
The consultant said the tutor had to be somebody who went to "prestigious academies – comparable categories of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The tutor must be the suitable individual, they'll be doing things they aren't even aware they're doing, simply by nature," he commented.
Expense Not a Factor
The family informed him the chosen tutor should ideally also have familiarity of or enthusiasm in equestrian activities, skiing, creative fields and musical activities so as to inspire the child in a wide range of interests.
Additionally though, he said the family wanted the tutor to sign up the child on a range of courses so the child would be "horseback riding and learning an tool by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's perspective, helping their son develop into a "British gentleman" will bring about success and open doors.
"Taking into account the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's definitely a status symbol," he comments.
But, notwithstanding all this tutelage in "English culture", could the child pick up alleged cultural influence from the multicultural family he resides with in any case?
"Yes", answered he. "The parents understand this could fail, but they've just taken the perspective of, 'let's give it a go and we'll proceed as quickly as we can', because the cost of it is irrelevant," he explained.
Overly Optimistic
Several in the education sector who express similar concerns.
Peter Cui, chief executive of Blue Education, who provides individual instructors, wrote that "the process of becoming bicultural, or actually, forming one's identity, is something that must be grown into, not manufactured."
Peter wrote that he had emigrated from China to the UK at the time of seven, and had been brought up experiencing and practicing two backgrounds. He progressed to learn at Cambridge University.
"The concept that one individual can serve as a representation of English culture, someone who can somehow transplant the qualities of a English gentleman onto a one-year-old child, seems to me idealistic and impractical," he wrote.
"In my experience, engaging a distinctly English tutor from babyhood will will not necessarily achieve the goal they desire.
"I wasn't provided with such a tutor, and yet I have been privileged enough to live numerous of the experiences they desire for their son."
He added: "The reality is, self-identity should not be forced from the outside; it must be selected, and it must originate internally."
Acquiring Englishness
Naturally, Britishness is something the expert believes can be taught – and sold.
"I believe the fact that the world regards us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
