"Parents located in north London seeks an extraordinary and skilled educator to guide their youngest child on his early path to turning into an British gentleman."
Looking at this advertisement, you might readily skip the wording "beginning" as mere figurative language.
But, it may be the most significant aspect of this unique job advert, as it attempts to find a tutor for a one-year-old.
Many of responses have now been submitted since the unnamed family published their request for the £180,000 per year tutor, who needs to be "a uniquely qualified person".
Over the last few weeks, the listing has attracted attention throughout the press, with many questioning why?
Progressive Approach
Adam Caller, CEO and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is assisting the family in their search, explained that in spite of early skepticism, he found the concept "visionary", and "advanced".
When he met the family, he noted they understood the atypical character of their demand, and how early in age their son is.
However, they clarified that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had waited until their firstborn was five, and by that age "cultural conditioning had by then set in".
But what does the family mean by "cultural leaning"?
It's "all-encompassing", he answered. "The manner you eat, the manner you speak".
He said the firstborn had adopted "extremely delicate, unspoken signals" from the family, and had adopted their cultural norms. The family told the consultant they hoped to prevent the same situation to recur with their younger child.
The plan: To hire a English tutor, who needs to speak with Received Pronunciation, to influence the baby right from the beginning.
Subtle Influence
"A great deal of the education at the start here is somewhat absorbed naturally," explained the expert.
It's by means of this subtle influence that the family are expecting the child will acquire the English characteristics they wish to cultivate.
He said the tutor needed to be somebody who went to "the right kinds of schools – similar types of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The tutor simply needs to be the right kind of person, they'll be performing things they aren't even aware they're doing, just naturally," he commented.
Cost Not Relevant
The family informed him the selected educator should ideally also have knowledge of or enthusiasm in riding, alpine skiing, the arts and instrumental training so as to inspire the child in a broad spectrum of interests.
More than that though, he said the family desired the tutor to sign up the child on a selection of courses so the child would be "pony-riding and starting an instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's minds, guiding their son grow into a "UK sophisticate" will bring about accomplishment and provide access.
"Taking into account the rights and wrongs of that, because it's certainly a status symbol," he comments.
But, in spite of all this guidance in "English culture", might the child pick up so-called cultural leaning from the international family he is raised by in any case?
"Yes", answered Adam. "They know this may not work, but they've merely embraced the attitude of, 'why not attempt it and let's go as quickly as we can', because the expense of it is not a concern," he explained.
Impractical
There are some in the tutoring industry who share those reservations.
An education leader, CEO and founder of a tutoring service, who provides private tutors, wrote that "the development of adopting dual cultures, or in fact, forming one's identity, is something that must be experienced personally, not engineered."
The expert explained that he had emigrated from China to the UK at the age of childhood, and had been raised experiencing and practicing both cultures. He continued to learn at Cambridge University.
"The concept that an individual can serve as a embodiment of English culture, an individual who can in some way transplant the characteristics of a English gentleman upon a infant child, seems to me optimistic and impractical," he commented.
"In my experience, employing a quintessentially British tutor from babyhood will does not necessarily create the goal they hope for.
"I wasn't provided with such a figure, and yet I have been fortunate enough to live several of the situations they desire for their son."
He stated: "The reality is, personal identity cannot be forced from the external environment; it must be selected, and it must be internally driven."
Purchasing UK Culture
Naturally, UK identity is something Adam believes can be instructed – and commercialized.
"I think the reality that the world holds us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
