"A family based in north London is looking for an extraordinary and qualified tutor to support their most junior child on his early path to turning into an British gentleman."
Upon seeing this listing, you might readily skip the phrase "beginning" as mere a turn of phrase.
Yet, it may be the most important part of this unique employment listing, as it attempts to find a teacher for a 12-month-old.
Hundreds of submissions have since been sent in since the unidentified family published their request for the £180k-a-year tutor, who has to be "a uniquely qualified person".
In recent few weeks, the post has gained notice throughout the news, with many wondering why?
Forward-Thinking Method
Adam Caller, CEO and founder of an education consultancy, which is helping the family in their hunt, said that despite early doubt, he viewed the plan "forward-looking", and "advanced".
When he met the family, he said they understood the atypical nature of their request, and how young their son is.
However, they explained that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to get a tutor, as they had waited until their firstborn was five, and by that point "cultural conditioning had already become established".
What precisely did the family mean by "cultural leaning"?
It's "everything", Adam responded. "How you eat, the way you speak".
He explained the firstborn had absorbed "very nuanced, unspoken signals" from the family, and had adopted their cultural norms. The family told the consultant they wished to avoid the same situation to recur with their new baby.
The intention: To engage a UK tutor, who must speak with RP, to shape the baby from the very start.
Osmotic Learning
"A lot of the learning at the beginning here is somewhat absorbed naturally," stated the expert.
It's via this subtle influence that the family are aiming the child will pick up the British traits they want to instil.
He explained the tutor needed to be someone who attended "the right kinds of schools – comparable categories of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The tutor must be the appropriate candidate, they'll be carrying out things they aren't even aware they're doing, just naturally," he added.
Expense Not a Factor
The family informed him the selected educator should ideally also have familiarity of or enthusiasm in riding, skiing, the arts and music so as to inspire the child in a wide range of interests.
More than that though, he stated the family wanted the tutor to enrol the child on a range of courses so the child would be "pony-riding and picking up an musical instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's view, helping their son grow into a "English gentleman" will result in achievement and create opportunities.
"For all the pros and cons of that, because it's certainly a status symbol," he notes.
However, in spite of all this instruction in "English culture", could the child pick up what is termed cultural influence from the globally influenced family he lives with anyway?
"Absolutely", replied Adam. "The family realize this might not succeed, but they've merely embraced the perspective of, 'why not attempt it and we'll proceed as early as we can', because the cost of it is not a concern," he stated.
Impractical
A number of in the tutoring industry who share those concerns.
An education leader, CEO and founder of a tutoring service, who also offer personal educators, commented that "the process of adopting dual cultures, or actually, forming one's identity, is something that must be grown into, not manufactured."
Peter wrote that he had moved from China to the Britain at the period of seven, and had been brought up knowing and living both cultures. He continued to learn at the University of Cambridge.
"The concept that one individual can act as a representation of English culture, someone who can somehow impart the qualities of a British gentleman upon a 12-month-old child, strikes me as optimistic and impractical," he wrote.
"From my perspective, engaging a typically UK tutor from infancy will does not automatically produce the goal they want.
"I wasn't provided with that kind of mentor, and yet I have been fortunate enough to experience numerous of the experiences they hope for their son."
He stated: "The truth is, self-identity can not be dictated from the outside; it must be chosen, and it must be internally driven."
Purchasing UK Culture
Of course, UK identity is something the expert believes can be taught – and sold.
"I think the reality that the world views us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
