"A household based in North London wants to find an extraordinary and experienced tutor to assist their most junior child on his initial journey to turning into an British gentleman."
Looking at this advertisement, you might readily overlook the term "beginning" as mere an expression.
Yet, it might be the most important aspect of this unusual position posting, as it attempts to find a teacher for a infant.
Hundreds of responses have now been submitted since the unidentified family posted their call for the highly paid tutor, who must be "a uniquely qualified person".
In recent few weeks, the post has attracted notice in the news, with numerous wondering why?
Forward-Thinking Method
Adam Caller, chief executive of Tutors International, which is supporting the family in their search, said that notwithstanding initial scepticism, he viewed the concept "far sighted", and "innovative".
When he spoke with the family, he noted they understood the unconventional character of their requirement, and how immature their son is.
Nevertheless, they clarified that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had postponed until their elder sibling was five, and by that age "cultural influence had by then taken hold".
What exactly does the family refer to by "cultural bias"?
It's "all-encompassing", he replied. "How you eat, how you speak".
He explained the older sibling had adopted "really subtle, body language" from the family, and had adopted their cultural habits. The family informed him they wished to avoid this pattern to recur with their infant.
The plan: To bring in a UK tutor, who must speak with RP, to influence the baby right from the beginning.
Subtle Influence
"A great deal of the development at the beginning here is rather absorbed naturally," explained the expert.
It's by means of this natural absorption that the family are aiming the child will acquire the UK customs they want to impart.
The consultant explained the tutor must be somebody who studied at "the right kinds of schools – the same kinds of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The tutor simply needs to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be performing things they aren't even aware they're doing, simply by nature," he said.
Money No Object
The family informed the expert the chosen tutor should ideally also have understanding of or enthusiasm in equestrian activities, winter sports, artistic pursuits and musical activities so as to influence the child in a wide range of passions.
More than that though, he said the family desired the tutor to register the child on a variety of classes so the child would be "pony-riding and picking up an instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's minds, assisting their son become a "English gentleman" will result in achievement and create opportunities.
"For all the pros and cons of that, because it's certainly a class statement," he adds.
However, notwithstanding all this instruction in "Britishness", could the child pick up so-called cultural leaning from the globally influenced family he resides with anyway?
"Absolutely", said Adam. "They realize this could fail, but they've merely embraced the attitude of, 'we should try and we'll proceed as quickly as we can', because the price of it is not relevant," he explained.
Impractical
Several in the tutoring industry who share similar doubts.
An education leader, head and founder of a tutoring service, who supplies personal educators, wrote that "the development of embracing two identities, or in fact, becoming oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not designed."
Peter wrote that he had relocated from Asia to the United Kingdom at the period of seven, and had been educated knowing and living dual heritages. He progressed to learn at the University of Cambridge.
"The idea that one individual can act as a representation of Britishness, someone who can in some way transplant the qualities of a UK sophisticate to a infant child, strikes me as naive and impractical," he wrote.
"Based on my background, engaging a typically English tutor from infancy will not automatically create the result they want.
"I wasn't provided with such a figure, and yet I have been privileged enough to enjoy numerous of the situations they hope for their son."
He added: "The truth is, cultural identity should not be forced from the outside influences; it must be chosen, and it must come from within."
Buying Britishness
Of course, English culture is something the expert believes can be educated – and commercialized.
"In my view the reality that the international society regards us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
