"Parents located in the northern part of London seeks an extraordinary and qualified tutor to guide their most junior child on his first steps to growing into an British gentleman."
When reading this listing, you might readily overlook the wording "beginning" as mere a turn of phrase.
However, it might be the most significant aspect of this unique employment listing, as it attempts to recruit a tutor for a infant.
Hundreds of applications have already been sent in since the unnamed family published their search for the £180k-a-year tutor, who needs to be "a uniquely qualified person".
During the past few weeks, the post has received notice throughout the media, with several questioning why?
Innovative Idea
Adam Caller, head and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is supporting the family in their quest, said that notwithstanding first doubt, he considered the plan "far sighted", and "innovative".
When he consulted the family, he noted they appreciated the unusual nature of their demand, and how young their son is.
But, they stated that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had waited until their older child was five, and by that point "cultural bias had already become established".
What precisely does the family mean by "cultural leaning"?
It's "comprehensive", Adam replied. "How you eat, the manner you speak".
He said the older sibling had picked up "really subtle, unspoken signals" from the family, and had assumed their cultural ways. The family told Adam they hoped to prevent the same situation to repeat itself with their younger child.
The strategy: To hire a British tutor, who must speak with standard English accent, to influence the baby from day one.
Subtle Influence
"Much of the development at the start here is somewhat absorbed naturally," said Adam.
It's via this subtle influence that the family are aiming the child will acquire the British traits they aim to instil.
The consultant noted the tutor needed to be someone who attended "prestigious academies – comparable categories of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The educator simply needs to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be performing things they don't even know they're doing, effortlessly," he added.
Expense Not a Factor
The family informed Adam the successful candidate should preferably also have familiarity of or enthusiasm in horse riding, alpine skiing, the arts and musical activities so as to inspire the child in a wide range of passions.
More than that though, he explained the family desired the tutor to sign up the child on a range of lessons so the child would be "horseback riding and picking up an instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's minds, helping their son develop into a "UK sophisticate" will lead to success and provide access.
"Considering the rights and wrongs of that, because it's certainly a class statement," he comments.
However, despite all this guidance in "Britishness", could the child adopt alleged cultural influence from the multicultural family he lives with in any case?
"Yes", answered the CEO. "The family understand this might not succeed, but they've merely embraced the perspective of, 'let's give it a go and we should start as soon as we can', because the expense of it is not a concern," he stated.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
There are some in the private teaching field who have similar reservations.
An education leader, chief executive of Blue Education, who provides private tutors, wrote that "the process of becoming bicultural, or actually, forming one's identity, is something that must be lived into, not engineered."
He explained that he had moved from Asia to the Britain at the age of childhood, and had been raised understanding and embodying two backgrounds. He continued to be educated at the University of Cambridge.
"The concept that a single person can function as a living vessel of Britishness, someone who can in some way transplant the qualities of a British gentleman onto a one-year-old child, seems to me idealistic and unrealistic," he stated.
"Based on my background, employing a typically English tutor from infancy will not necessarily produce the result they want.
"I wasn't provided with such a figure, and nevertheless I have been privileged enough to experience numerous of the experiences they desire for their son."
He added: "The reality is, self-identity should not be imposed from the outside influences; it must be embraced, and it must be internally driven."
Purchasing UK Culture
Of course, English culture is something Adam thinks can be taught – and sold.
"In my view the fact that the world holds us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
