"A household based in north London wants to find an extraordinary and experienced tutor to guide their smallest child on his first steps to becoming an British gentleman."
Upon seeing this post, you might readily miss the phrase "beginning" 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 infant.
Hundreds of submissions have already been sent in since the unnamed family published their search for the £180,000 per year tutor, who needs to be "someone very special".
In recent few weeks, the post has received attention across the press, with several asking why?
Forward-Thinking Method
Adam Caller, chief executive of Tutors International, which is assisting the family in their hunt, stated that despite early scepticism, he found the plan "far sighted", and "advanced".
When he met the family, he noted they understood the atypical aspect of their requirement, and how young their son is.
But, they stated that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had held off until their older child was five, and by that point "cultural bias had already taken hold".
What exactly did the family mean by "cultural bias"?
It's "all-encompassing", Adam replied. "The manner you eat, how you speak".
He explained the firstborn had picked up "extremely delicate, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had adopted their cultural ways. The family told him they wished to avoid this pattern to happen again with their new baby.
The strategy: To bring in a British tutor, who needs to speak with RP, to influence the baby right from the beginning.
Osmotic Learning
"Much of the education at the outset here is somewhat osmotic," said the expert.
It's via this subtle influence that the family are aiming the child will adopt the English characteristics they aim to instil.
The consultant said the tutor had to be someone who went to "the right kinds of schools – the same kinds of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The instructor just has to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be carrying out things they may not realize they're doing, just naturally," he commented.
Expense Not a Factor
The family told him the chosen tutor should preferably also have knowledge of or enthusiasm in equestrian activities, skiing, artistic pursuits and instrumental training so as to shape the child in a broad spectrum of interests.
Furthermore though, he explained the family wanted the tutor to register the child on a selection of lessons so the child would be "horseback riding and picking up an tool by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's view, guiding their son develop into a "British gentleman" will bring about accomplishment and provide access.
"Considering the pros and cons of that, because it's undoubtedly a status symbol," he adds.
However, notwithstanding all this guidance in "English culture", could the child pick up so-called cultural bias from the globally influenced family he lives with anyway?
"Absolutely", said the CEO. "The family realize this may not work, but they've merely embraced the attitude of, 'let's give it a go and we'll proceed as early as we can', because the price of it is not a concern," he said.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
There are some in the education sector who express these doubts.
Peter Cui, chief executive of an educational organization, who also offer individual instructors, stated that "the development of adopting dual cultures, or indeed, forming one's identity, is something that must be grown into, not manufactured."
The expert wrote that he had moved from the Far East to the UK at the age of 7 years old, and had been brought up understanding and practicing dual heritages. He continued to be educated at the University of Cambridge.
"The concept that a single person can serve as a representation of Britishness, someone who can somehow transfer the qualities of a UK sophisticate upon a infant child, seems to me idealistic and unrealistic," he wrote.
"Based on my background, having a distinctly UK tutor from babyhood will will not automatically produce the goal they want.
"I did not have such a tutor, and however I have been lucky enough to experience many of the situations they aspire for their son."
He continued: "The fact is, self-identity should not be dictated from the outside influences; it must be selected, and it must originate internally."
Acquiring Englishness
Of course, English culture is something the expert thinks can be taught – and commercialized.
"I believe the reality that the global community views us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
