"A family located in North London seeks an exceptional and qualified tutor to assist their smallest child on his initial journey to turning into an English gentleman."
When reading this advertisement, you might naturally skip the term "initial stages" as simple a turn of phrase.
However, it may be the crucial part of this unusual position posting, as it seeks to recruit a tutor for a 12-month-old.
Hundreds of applications have since been sent in since the anonymous family published their request for the £180k-a-year tutor, who has to be "an exceptional individual".
Over the last few weeks, the listing has attracted notice across the news, with several questioning why?
Progressive Approach
Adam Caller, CEO and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is supporting the family in their search, said that in spite of early scepticism, he found the concept "forward-looking", and "innovative".
When he met the family, he said they understood the unusual character of their request, and how early in age their son is.
But, they explained that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to get a tutor, as they had waited until their older child was five, and by that stage "cultural conditioning had already become established".
What precisely does the family refer to by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "all-encompassing", the expert replied. "How you eat, the way you speak".
He stated the older sibling had adopted "extremely delicate, body language" from the family, and had adopted their cultural ways. The family informed the consultant they did not want history to recur with their infant.
The plan: To hire a English tutor, who must speak with Received Pronunciation, to guide the baby from the very start.
Osmotic Learning
"Much of the development at the beginning here is somewhat acquired indirectly," said Adam.
It's through this osmosis that the family are aiming the child will adopt the English characteristics they wish to impart.
The consultant explained the tutor must be an individual who attended "the appropriate educational institutions – the same kinds of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The instructor simply needs to be the right kind of person, they'll be carrying out things they aren't even aware they're doing, simply by nature," he said.
Money No Object
The family informed him the selected educator should ideally also have familiarity of or interest in equestrian activities, winter sports, creative fields and music so as to inspire the child in a diverse set of passions.
More than that though, he stated the family hoped the tutor to sign up the child on a selection of classes so the child would be "equestrian training and picking up an instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's perspective, guiding their son become a "British gentleman" will result in achievement and create opportunities.
"Taking into account the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's undoubtedly a class statement," he adds.
But, in spite of all this guidance in "English culture", might the child adopt what is termed cultural bias from the international family he is raised by regardless?
"Certainly", said he. "They realize this may not work, but they've merely embraced the perspective of, 'we should try and we should start as soon as we can', because the cost of it is not relevant," he stated.
Overly Optimistic
A number of in the private teaching field who share those doubts.
Peter Cui, CEO and founder of an educational organization, who also offer individual instructors, wrote that "the development of becoming bicultural, or indeed, discovering oneself, is something that must be lived into, not designed."
Peter noted that he had moved from the Far East to the United Kingdom at the age of seven, and had been brought up knowing and practicing dual heritages. He continued to learn at the University of Cambridge.
"The concept that one individual can function as a representation of UK identity, an individual who can somehow transplant the attributes of a British gentleman upon a one-year-old child, seems to me optimistic and impractical," he stated.
"In my experience, employing a quintessentially UK tutor from babyhood will does not automatically achieve the goal they hope for.
"I did not have such a figure, and nevertheless I have been fortunate enough to live numerous of the experiences they desire for their son."
He stated: "The fact is, cultural identity cannot be imposed from the external environment; it must be embraced, and it must originate internally."
Buying Britishness
Of course, Britishness is something the CEO thinks can be instructed – and marketed.
"In my view the situation that the international society views us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
