"Parents located in north London seeks an exceptional and qualified instructor to guide their most junior child on his first steps to becoming an British gentleman."
Upon seeing this listing, you might easily overlook the phrase "beginning" as just figurative language.
However, it could be the most important element of this distinctive job advert, as it attempts to find a teacher for a infant.
Hundreds of submissions have since been submitted since the unidentified family advertised their request for the £180,000 per year tutor, who must be "someone very special".
During the past few weeks, the listing has attracted notice in the press, with several wondering why?
Forward-Thinking Method
Adam Caller, CEO and founder of Tutors International, which is supporting the family in their search, said that in spite of initial doubt, he found the concept "forward-looking", and "progressive".
When he consulted the family, he mentioned they recognized the atypical aspect of their demand, and how early in age their son is.
But, they clarified that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had waited until their elder sibling was five, and by that stage "cultural influence had already become established".
What precisely did the family refer to by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "all-encompassing", he responded. "The way you eat, how you speak".
He stated the firstborn had absorbed "extremely delicate, body language" from the family, and had adopted their cultural ways. The family told him they did not want the same situation to happen again with their new baby.
The plan: To hire a UK tutor, who should speak with Received Pronunciation, to guide the baby from the very start.
Natural Absorption
"A great deal of the learning at the beginning here is kind of osmotic," said the expert.
It's through this osmosis that the family are expecting the child will acquire the English characteristics they aim to impart.
Adam noted the tutor must be somebody who studied at "the appropriate educational institutions – similar types of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The instructor must be the right kind of person, they'll be carrying out things they may not realize they're doing, just naturally," he commented.
Cost Not Relevant
The family informed Adam the selected educator should ideally also have knowledge of or enthusiasm in horse riding, winter sports, 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 wanted the tutor to enrol the child on a selection of courses so the child would be "pony-riding and learning an musical instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's perspective, helping their son develop into a "British gentleman" will lead to accomplishment and provide access.
"For all the pros and cons of that, because it's definitely a social class indicator," he notes.
But, despite all this instruction in "English culture", could the child absorb alleged cultural bias from the globally influenced family he lives with anyway?
"Certainly", said Adam. "They know this could fail, but they've just taken the view of, 'why not attempt it and we should start as early as we can', because the price of it is irrelevant," he explained.
Impractical
There are some in the tutoring industry who have those doubts.
Peter Cui, head and founder of an educational organization, who provides personal educators, stated that "the journey of adopting dual cultures, or in fact, becoming oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not designed."
He wrote that he had moved from China to the UK at the age of seven, and had been educated understanding and embodying dual heritages. He continued to study at a prestigious UK institution.
"The idea that a single person can function as a embodiment of UK identity, a person who can somehow transfer the characteristics of a English gentleman upon a one-year-old child, seems to me idealistic and impractical," he wrote.
"In my experience, having a typically British tutor from early childhood will will not necessarily produce the goal they want.
"I did not have such a tutor, and yet I have been privileged enough to live many of the opportunities they hope for their son."
He continued: "The truth is, cultural identity cannot be forced from the outside influences; it must be selected, and it must be internally driven."
Acquiring Englishness
Of course, UK identity is something Adam hopes can be educated – and commercialized.
"I think the reality that the international society views us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
