"A household based in North London is looking for an extraordinary and skilled educator to support their smallest child on his first steps to growing into an English gentleman."
Upon seeing this listing, you might readily overlook the term "beginning" as simple a turn of phrase.
Yet, it might be the most significant aspect of this unusual position posting, as it attempts to hire a mentor for a 12-month-old.
Many of responses have since been sent in since the unnamed family posted their call for the £180k-a-year tutor, who must be "someone very special".
During the past few weeks, the listing has gained attention in the press, with numerous asking why?
Progressive Approach
Adam Caller, chief executive of an education consultancy, which is supporting the family in their search, stated that in spite of initial scepticism, he viewed the concept "visionary", and "innovative".
When he consulted the family, he said they appreciated the unconventional nature of their request, and how early in age their son is.
Nevertheless, they stated that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had held off until their elder sibling was five, and by that stage "cultural conditioning had already become established".
What precisely did the family mean by "cultural bias"?
It's "all-encompassing", he responded. "The manner you eat, the manner you speak".
He explained the elder child had adopted "really subtle, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had taken on their cultural ways. The family explained to the consultant they did not want history to recur with their new baby.
The strategy: To hire a British tutor, who must speak with standard English accent, to influence the baby from the very start.
Natural Absorption
"A great deal of the learning at the beginning here is rather acquired indirectly," stated the expert.
It's by means of this natural absorption that the family are aiming the child will adopt the English characteristics they want to instil.
The consultant explained the tutor had to be an individual who attended "prestigious academies – comparable categories of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The educator simply needs to be the right kind of person, they'll be doing things they aren't even aware they're doing, effortlessly," he added.
Expense Not a Factor
The family informed the expert the selected educator should ideally also have familiarity of or passion in horse riding, alpine skiing, the arts and instrumental training so as to influence the child in a wide range of interests.
Furthermore though, he explained the family wanted the tutor to enrol the child on a variety of lessons so the child would be "equestrian training and learning an tool by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's perspective, assisting their son develop into a "UK sophisticate" will bring about success and provide access.
"Taking into account the rights and wrongs of that, because it's undoubtedly a status symbol," he notes.
However, notwithstanding all this guidance in "English culture", might the child pick up so-called cultural bias from the multicultural family he resides with in any case?
"Yes", said the CEO. "The parents know this could fail, but they've just taken the perspective of, 'we should try and we'll proceed as soon as we can', because the price of it is irrelevant," he said.
Overly Optimistic
There are some in the private teaching field who have similar concerns.
Another CEO, chief executive of an educational organization, who also offer personal educators, wrote that "the journey of becoming bicultural, or actually, becoming oneself, is something that must be lived into, not designed."
He noted that he had moved from Asia to the Britain at the time of childhood, and had been educated knowing and living both cultures. He progressed to be educated at a prestigious UK institution.
"The idea that a single person can function as a embodiment of UK identity, an individual who can in some way transfer the qualities of a British gentleman to a one-year-old child, seems to me optimistic and unrealistic," he stated.
"From my perspective, engaging a distinctly UK tutor from infancy will does not instantly achieve the goal they hope for.
"I wasn't provided with such a figure, and however I have been fortunate enough to live several of the opportunities they hope for their son."
He continued: "The reality is, cultural identity cannot be forced from the outside influences; it must be embraced, and it must originate internally."
Acquiring Englishness
Certainly, UK identity is something the expert hopes can be educated – and marketed.
"In my view the reality that the international society holds us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
