"A family based in North London wants to find an exceptional and skilled educator to support their smallest child on his initial journey to turning into an British gentleman."
Upon seeing this post, you might easily skip the term "beginning" as simple figurative language.
Yet, it may be the most significant part of this distinctive position posting, as it seeks to hire a mentor for a 12-month-old.
Numerous of submissions have already been received since the unnamed family advertised their call for the £180,000 per year tutor, who must be "a uniquely qualified person".
Over the last few weeks, the advert has received notice across the press, with several asking why?
Innovative Idea
Adam Caller, head and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is supporting the family in their quest, explained that despite initial scepticism, he considered the concept "visionary", and "innovative".
When he consulted the family, he said they appreciated the unusual nature of their request, and how young their son is.
But, they stated that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had postponed until their older child was five, and by that point "cultural bias had already set in".
But what did the family refer to by "cultural leaning"?
It's "everything", the expert answered. "How you eat, the way you speak".
He stated the elder child had adopted "extremely delicate, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had assumed their cultural ways. The family told Adam they did not want the same situation to recur with their infant.
The strategy: To bring in a English tutor, who must speak with standard English accent, to shape the baby right from the beginning.
Natural Absorption
"A great deal of the development at the beginning here is kind of absorbed naturally," said the CEO.
It's through this natural absorption that the family are hoping the child will pick up the British traits they wish to instil.
The consultant explained the tutor must be an individual who studied at "prestigious academies – comparable categories of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The tutor simply needs to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be performing things they may not realize they're doing, just naturally," he commented.
Expense Not a Factor
The family told him the chosen tutor should ideally also have familiarity of or passion in horse riding, winter sports, creative fields and instrumental training so as to influence the child in a broad spectrum of interests.
More than that though, he explained the family wanted the tutor to enrol the child on a variety of lessons so the child would be "pony-riding and starting an instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's perspective, assisting their son develop into a "British gentleman" will lead to achievement and create opportunities.
"Taking into account the rights and wrongs of that, because it's undoubtedly a class statement," he adds.
Yet, despite all this guidance in "Britishness", could the child absorb alleged cultural bias from the multicultural family he is raised by regardless?
"Certainly", replied the CEO. "The family know this could fail, but they've merely embraced the view of, 'why not attempt it and we'll proceed as early as we can', because the price of it is not a concern," he explained.
Impractical
There are some in the private teaching field who express these doubts.
Another CEO, chief executive of a tutoring service, who also offer personal educators, wrote that "the development of becoming bicultural, or in fact, discovering oneself, is something that must be lived into, not manufactured."
He explained that he had relocated from the Far East to the United Kingdom at the age of seven, and had been raised experiencing and embodying dual heritages. He continued to study at Cambridge University.
"The idea that one individual can act as a living vessel of Britishness, a person who can somehow transfer the attributes of a British gentleman onto a one-year-old child, seems to me idealistic and unrealistic," he stated.
"In my experience, employing a quintessentially English tutor from early childhood will not automatically produce the outcome they want.
"I wasn't provided with such a figure, and yet I have been lucky enough to enjoy many of the situations they aspire for their son."
He continued: "The fact is, personal identity can not be imposed from the outside influences; it must be selected, and it must be internally driven."
Acquiring Englishness
Of course, Britishness is something the expert thinks can be instructed – and marketed.
"I believe the situation that the global community regards us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
