"A family based in north London wants to find an extraordinary and skilled educator to guide their most junior child on his first steps to turning into an English gentleman."
Looking at this advertisement, you might easily overlook the term "beginning" as simple a turn of phrase.
But, it might be the most significant element of this distinctive job advert, as it seeks to find a mentor for a one-year-old.
Many of applications have since been received since the anonymous family published their request for the £180k-a-year tutor, who needs to be "a uniquely qualified person".
In recent few weeks, the post has received attention throughout the news, with several asking why?
Progressive Approach
A tutoring expert, chief executive of an education consultancy, which is assisting the family in their search, explained that notwithstanding initial scepticism, he considered the plan "visionary", and "progressive".
When he spoke with the family, he mentioned they recognized the unusual character of their demand, and how young their son is.
However, they explained that they "didn't want to wait 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 set in".
What precisely did the family refer to by "cultural bias"?
It's "everything", the expert answered. "The manner you eat, how you speak".
He explained the older sibling had absorbed "extremely delicate, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had assumed their cultural habits. The family explained to Adam they hoped to prevent the same situation to recur with their younger child.
The plan: To bring in a UK tutor, who needs to speak with RP, to influence the baby from the very start.
Subtle Influence
"Much of the development at the beginning here is kind of absorbed naturally," said the expert.
It's via this subtle influence that the family are aiming the child will acquire the British traits they aim to impart.
The consultant noted the tutor needed to be someone who attended "prestigious academies – comparable categories of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The educator must be the suitable individual, they'll be performing things they aren't even aware they're doing, effortlessly," he commented.
Cost Not Relevant
The family informed him the selected educator should ideally also have familiarity of or interest in horse riding, alpine skiing, creative fields and instrumental training so as to influence the child in a broad spectrum of interests.
Additionally though, he stated the family wanted the tutor to sign up the child on a selection of courses so the child would be "pony-riding and learning 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 lead to success and provide access.
"Considering the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's certainly a class statement," he comments.
Yet, notwithstanding all this guidance in "Britishness", might the child absorb what is termed cultural bias from the international family he resides with anyway?
"Yes", said he. "They understand this might not succeed, but they've merely embraced the view of, 'why not attempt it and let's go as early as we can', because the cost of it is irrelevant," he said.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
Several in the private teaching field who share those reservations.
Another CEO, CEO and founder of Blue Education, who also offer personal educators, commented that "the process of becoming bicultural, or in fact, discovering oneself, is something that must be grown into, not engineered."
Peter explained that he had moved from China to the UK at the time of seven, and had been brought up understanding and embodying both cultures. He progressed to study at a prestigious UK institution.
"The idea that an individual can function as a representation of Britishness, a person who can somehow transfer the characteristics of a English gentleman onto a 12-month-old child, seems to me optimistic and unfeasible," he commented.
"From my perspective, employing a quintessentially British tutor from infancy will not instantly create the outcome they hope for.
"I never had such a figure, and yet I have been fortunate enough to live many of the situations they desire for their son."
He continued: "The fact is, personal identity cannot be forced from the outside influences; it must be chosen, and it must be internally driven."
Buying Britishness
Naturally, Britishness is something the expert believes can be taught – and sold.
"In my view the situation that the world regards us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating