"A household located in north London is looking for an remarkable and skilled educator to assist their smallest child on his initial journey to becoming an English gentleman."
Upon seeing this post, you might naturally skip the phrase "beginning" as mere a turn of phrase.
Yet, it could be the crucial aspect of this unique job advert, as it aims to recruit a tutor for a one-year-old.
Hundreds of applications have now been sent in since the unidentified family published their search for the £180,000 per year tutor, who must be "an exceptional individual".
Over the last few weeks, the listing has gained interest in the press, with several wondering why?
Progressive Approach
Adam Caller, CEO and founder of an education consultancy, which is supporting the family in their hunt, said that notwithstanding initial scepticism, he found the plan "visionary", and "innovative".
When he spoke with the family, he noted they understood the atypical character of their requirement, and how immature their son is.
However, they stated that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had held off until their firstborn was five, and by that point "cultural bias had by then taken hold".
What precisely did the family refer to by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "comprehensive", the expert responded. "How you eat, the way you speak".
He stated the older sibling had absorbed "extremely delicate, unspoken signals" from the family, and had taken on their cultural norms. The family explained to him they did not want history to recur with their younger child.
The strategy: To engage a English tutor, who must speak with RP, to shape the baby from the very start.
Subtle Influence
"A lot of the education at the beginning here is kind of acquired indirectly," explained the CEO.
It's by means of this natural absorption that the family are expecting the child will adopt the UK customs they want to instil.
He noted the tutor must be an individual who studied at "the appropriate educational institutions – similar types of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The instructor simply needs to be the right kind of person, they'll be doing things they may not realize they're doing, just naturally," he said.
Money No Object
The family explained to the expert the selected educator should ideally also have familiarity of or enthusiasm in riding, winter sports, artistic pursuits and music so as to shape the child in a diverse set of passions.
More than that though, he stated the family desired the tutor to sign up the child on a variety of courses so the child would be "pony-riding and picking up an tool by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's perspective, assisting their son grow into a "British gentleman" will result in success and open doors.
"Taking into account the pros and cons of that, because it's certainly a class statement," he adds.
Yet, notwithstanding all this tutelage in "UK identity", might the child absorb so-called cultural influence from the multicultural family he resides with regardless?
"Yes", answered the CEO. "The family realize this could fail, but they've merely embraced the view of, 'we should try and we should start as soon as we can', because the price of it is not a concern," he said.
Impractical
Several in the tutoring industry who share those concerns.
Peter Cui, head and founder of Blue Education, who provides private tutors, commented that "the process of becoming bicultural, or actually, becoming oneself, is something that must be lived into, not engineered."
Peter wrote that he had moved from the Far East to the Britain at the period of 7 years old, and had been educated knowing and practicing two backgrounds. He continued to be educated at Cambridge University.
"The concept that one individual can act as a embodiment of UK identity, an individual who can in some way transfer the characteristics of a British gentleman upon a 12-month-old child, strikes me as naive and impractical," he stated.
"Based on my background, engaging a quintessentially British tutor from early childhood will does not instantly achieve the goal they want.
"I did not have such a figure, and nevertheless I have been lucky enough to enjoy several of the opportunities they aspire for their son."
He stated: "The truth is, cultural identity should not be imposed from the outside; it must be chosen, and it must come from within."
Buying Britishness
Certainly, UK identity is something the expert hopes can be instructed – and commercialized.
"I think the situation that the global community views us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
