"A family residing in North London seeks an extraordinary and qualified instructor to support their most junior child on his initial journey to turning into an British gentleman."
Looking at this post, you might readily overlook the wording "beginning" as just figurative language.
But, it could be the most significant part of this unique position posting, as it seeks to recruit a mentor for a one-year-old.
Hundreds of submissions have now been sent in since the unnamed family posted their request for the £180,000 per year tutor, who has to be "someone very special".
Over the last few weeks, the listing has received notice in the press, with many questioning why?
Innovative Idea
A tutoring expert, CEO and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is helping the family in their quest, said that in spite of first scepticism, he found the plan "forward-looking", and "advanced".
When he spoke with the family, he said they appreciated the unconventional aspect of their request, and how young their son is.
However, they stated that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had postponed until their older child was five, and by that stage "cultural bias had by then set in".
What exactly does the family refer to by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "all-encompassing", Adam answered. "How you eat, how you speak".
He said the older sibling had absorbed "really subtle, unspoken signals" from the family, and had adopted their cultural habits. The family told Adam they did not want history to recur with their infant.
The intention: To hire a English tutor, who should speak with standard English accent, to shape the baby from day one.
Natural Absorption
"A lot of the learning at the beginning here is rather absorbed naturally," stated the expert.
It's via this subtle influence that the family are hoping the child will pick up the UK customs they want to impart.
He explained the tutor must be someone who attended "the right kinds of schools – comparable categories of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The instructor just has to be the right kind of person, they'll be carrying out things they don't even know they're doing, effortlessly," he said.
Expense Not a Factor
The family informed him the successful candidate should preferably also have understanding of or passion in equestrian activities, winter sports, the arts and instrumental training so as to shape the child in a broad spectrum of interests.
Furthermore though, he stated the family hoped the tutor to register the child on a variety of lessons so the child would be "pony-riding and starting an musical instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's minds, assisting their son develop into a "English gentleman" will lead to achievement and open doors.
"Considering the pros and cons of that, because it's definitely a status symbol," he notes.
Yet, in spite of all this guidance in "UK identity", could the child adopt so-called cultural influence from the international family he lives with anyway?
"Certainly", replied he. "The parents know this could fail, but they've simply adopted the attitude of, 'why not attempt it and let's go as early as we can', because the expense of it is not a concern," he explained.
Impractical
There are some in the education sector who express those concerns.
An education leader, head and founder of Blue Education, who supplies private tutors, stated that "the development of adopting dual cultures, or indeed, forming one's identity, is something that must be grown into, not manufactured."
He explained that he had emigrated from the Far East to the Britain at the age of childhood, and had been educated knowing and practicing two backgrounds. He went on to be educated at the University of Cambridge.
"The idea that an individual can function as a embodiment of UK identity, someone who can possibly transfer the attributes of a English gentleman onto a infant child, appears idealistic and unfeasible," he wrote.
"From my perspective, having a quintessentially UK tutor from babyhood will will not instantly achieve the result they desire.
"I never had that kind of mentor, and nevertheless I have been lucky enough to enjoy numerous of the experiences they desire for their son."
He stated: "The fact is, cultural identity cannot be forced from the outside; it must be selected, and it must originate internally."
Acquiring Englishness
Of course, Britishness is something the expert believes can be instructed – and marketed.
"I believe the fact that the international society holds us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
