"A family residing in North London is looking for an extraordinary and skilled educator to guide their most junior child on his first steps to growing into an English gentleman."
Upon seeing this advertisement, you might readily overlook the wording "initial stages" as just a turn of phrase.
Yet, it could be the most important aspect of this distinctive employment listing, as it attempts to hire a tutor for a one-year-old.
Hundreds of submissions have now been submitted since the unnamed family advertised their request for the £180,000 per year tutor, who has to be "someone very special".
Over the last few weeks, the post has received interest throughout the media, with several questioning why?
Forward-Thinking Method
Adam Caller, CEO and founder of an education consultancy, which is supporting the family in their quest, explained that despite first skepticism, he viewed the plan "far sighted", and "progressive".
When he spoke with the family, he said they recognized the unusual nature of their demand, and how immature their son is.
But, they explained that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to get a tutor, as they had waited until their firstborn was five, and by that point "cultural conditioning had already taken hold".
But what did the family indicate by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "comprehensive", the expert responded. "The manner you eat, how you speak".
He explained the firstborn had absorbed "very nuanced, unspoken signals" from the family, and had adopted their cultural habits. The family informed him they wished to avoid the same situation to happen again with their younger child.
The intention: To hire a British tutor, who needs to speak with standard English accent, to guide the baby from day one.
Osmotic Learning
"A great deal of the learning at the outset here is rather osmotic," said Adam.
It's through this subtle influence that the family are hoping the child will acquire the British traits they want to cultivate.
He explained the tutor must be an individual who studied at "the appropriate educational institutions – comparable categories of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The educator just has to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be doing things they don't even know they're doing, effortlessly," he commented.
Money No Object
The family explained to Adam the chosen tutor should ideally also have familiarity of or passion in riding, winter sports, the arts and musical activities so as to shape the child in a broad spectrum of passions.
More than that though, he explained the family wanted the tutor to register the child on a selection of courses so the child would be "horseback riding and learning an musical instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's minds, assisting their son become a "British gentleman" will lead to accomplishment and provide access.
"Considering the rights and wrongs of that, because it's definitely a social class indicator," he comments.
However, in spite of all this guidance in "UK identity", could the child adopt what is termed cultural leaning from the globally influenced family he is raised by regardless?
"Absolutely", replied he. "They realize this may not work, but they've simply adopted the attitude of, 'let's give it a go and we should start as early as we can', because the expense of it is not a concern," he explained.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
A number of in the education sector who share these doubts.
Another CEO, head and founder of an educational organization, who supplies private tutors, wrote that "the journey of becoming bicultural, or in fact, discovering oneself, is something that must be grown into, not designed."
The expert wrote that he had moved from the Far East to the Britain at the time of seven, and had been raised understanding and living two backgrounds. He progressed to be educated at a prestigious UK institution.
"The concept that an individual can act as a living vessel of English culture, someone who can in some way impart the qualities of a British gentleman onto a one-year-old child, strikes me as optimistic and unfeasible," he wrote.
"Based on my background, having a typically English tutor from early childhood will does not necessarily achieve the outcome they desire.
"I wasn't provided with such a tutor, and nevertheless I have been fortunate enough to enjoy several of the opportunities they desire for their son."
He stated: "The truth is, self-identity can not be dictated from the external environment; it must be embraced, and it must be internally driven."
Purchasing UK Culture
Of course, UK identity is something the expert believes can be educated – and sold.
"I think the reality that the world views us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
