"A family based in the northern part of London wants to find an exceptional and qualified tutor to support their most junior child on his first steps to turning into an English gentleman."
When reading this listing, you might easily skip the term "beginning" as just a turn of phrase.
Yet, it may be the most significant aspect of this unique employment listing, as it seeks to recruit a mentor for a 12-month-old.
Numerous of responses have already been sent in since the anonymous family published their call for the £180k-a-year tutor, who must be "someone very special".
During the past few weeks, the listing has gained attention across the media, with numerous wondering why?
Progressive Approach
Adam Caller, head and founder of Tutors International, which is helping the family in their search, said that notwithstanding initial skepticism, he found the idea "forward-looking", and "advanced".
When he met the family, he mentioned they understood the unusual character of their request, and how immature their son is.
But, they explained that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had held off until their firstborn was five, and by that age "cultural conditioning had by then taken hold".
What exactly did the family indicate by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "everything", he answered. "How you eat, how you speak".
He said the older sibling had picked up "very nuanced, body language" from the family, and had taken on their cultural habits. The family informed Adam they hoped to prevent history to repeat itself with their infant.
The strategy: To hire a UK tutor, who must speak with standard English accent, to guide the baby from the very start.
Subtle Influence
"A lot of the development at the outset here is kind of acquired indirectly," said the CEO.
It's by means of this osmosis that the family are hoping the child will adopt the British traits they aim to instil.
Adam explained the tutor needed to be an individual who studied at "the right kinds of schools – similar types of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The educator simply needs to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be doing things they may not realize they're doing, simply by nature," he commented.
Money No Object
The family told the expert the selected educator should ideally also have familiarity of or interest in horse riding, skiing, creative fields and instrumental training so as to influence the child in a broad spectrum of hobbies.
Additionally though, he stated the family desired the tutor to register the child on a variety of classes so the child would be "pony-riding and starting an tool by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's view, guiding their son grow into a "English gentleman" will lead to achievement and provide access.
"Considering the rights and wrongs of that, because it's undoubtedly a class statement," he adds.
But, in spite of all this guidance in "English culture", could the child pick up so-called cultural influence from the international family he lives with anyway?
"Yes", answered he. "The parents understand this could fail, but they've merely embraced the attitude of, 'we should try and let's go as quickly as we can', because the cost of it is not a concern," he said.
Overly Optimistic
Several in the private teaching field who express those concerns.
Another CEO, head and founder of an educational organization, who also offer individual instructors, wrote that "the development of becoming bicultural, or indeed, discovering oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not manufactured."
He explained that he had moved from Asia to the UK at the period of seven, and had been raised experiencing and living two backgrounds. He went on to learn at the University of Cambridge.
"The concept that a single person can function as a embodiment of UK identity, someone who can somehow impart the characteristics of a British gentleman upon a one-year-old child, appears idealistic and unrealistic," he stated.
"Based on my background, having a typically UK tutor from infancy will does not necessarily achieve the goal they hope for.
"I never had such a figure, and nevertheless I have been fortunate enough to live several of the experiences they hope for their son."
He continued: "The reality is, cultural identity can not be dictated from the outside influences; it must be embraced, and it must originate internally."
Buying Britishness
Naturally, UK identity is something the CEO hopes can be instructed – and marketed.
"In my view the fact that the international society views us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
