"A household residing in north London is looking for an extraordinary and experienced educator to assist their smallest child on his initial journey to becoming an English gentleman."
Looking at this advertisement, you might easily miss the phrase "beginning" as mere an expression.
However, it may be the most significant element of this unusual job advert, as it attempts to recruit a mentor for a 12-month-old.
Many of submissions have now been received since the anonymous family published their search for the £180k-a-year tutor, who must be "someone very special".
Over the last few weeks, the advert has received attention throughout the media, with several asking why?
Progressive Approach
Adam Caller, chief executive of Tutors International, which is supporting the family in their search, stated that notwithstanding early scepticism, he considered the plan "forward-looking", and "progressive".
When he met the family, he said they recognized the atypical nature of their requirement, and how immature their son is.
However, they stated that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had postponed until their elder sibling was five, and by that stage "cultural influence had already become established".
What exactly does the family mean by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "all-encompassing", the expert answered. "The way you eat, the manner you speak".
He said the firstborn had adopted "really subtle, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had adopted their cultural norms. The family explained to him they hoped to prevent this pattern to recur with their younger child.
The plan: To engage a British tutor, who needs to speak with RP, to influence the baby from day one.
Osmotic Learning
"A great deal of the development at the beginning here is rather absorbed naturally," explained Adam.
It's through this subtle influence that the family are hoping the child will adopt the English characteristics they want to impart.
Adam noted the tutor must be an individual who studied at "prestigious academies – similar types of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The instructor simply needs to be the right kind of person, they'll be carrying out things they don't even know they're doing, simply by nature," he added.
Cost Not Relevant
The family told him the chosen tutor should ideally also have understanding of or interest in riding, alpine skiing, creative fields and instrumental training so as to shape the child in a wide range of hobbies.
More than that though, he stated the family desired the tutor to sign up the child on a variety of classes so the child would be "equestrian training and picking up an instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's minds, guiding their son grow into a "British gentleman" will bring about success and create opportunities.
"Taking into account the rights and wrongs of that, because it's definitely a class statement," he comments.
But, despite all this instruction in "English culture", would the child pick up so-called cultural influence from the international family he is raised by anyway?
"Absolutely", answered Adam. "The family know this might not succeed, but they've just taken the attitude of, 'let's give it a go and let's go as soon as we can', because the expense of it is irrelevant," he stated.
Overly Optimistic
Several in the tutoring industry who have those concerns.
An education leader, head and founder of a tutoring service, who provides private tutors, wrote that "the journey of adopting dual cultures, or indeed, discovering oneself, is something that must be grown into, not manufactured."
The expert explained that he had emigrated from the Far East to the Britain at the age of seven, and had been raised understanding and embodying dual heritages. He continued to study at the University of Cambridge.
"The idea that a single person can function as a representation of Britishness, someone who can possibly transplant the characteristics of a UK sophisticate onto a infant child, seems to me naive and unrealistic," he commented.
"In my experience, having a typically British tutor from early childhood will not instantly achieve the outcome they desire.
"I never had that kind of mentor, and nevertheless I have been fortunate enough to enjoy numerous of the situations they aspire for their son."
He added: "The truth is, personal identity should not be imposed from the outside; it must be selected, and it must originate internally."
Buying Britishness
Of course, English culture is something Adam believes can be educated – and marketed.
"In my view the situation that the world regards us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
