"A family located in North London wants to find an extraordinary and skilled educator to guide their youngest child on his first steps to becoming an English gentleman."
Upon seeing this post, you might easily miss the wording "initial stages" as simple a turn of phrase.
But, it might be the crucial element of this unusual job advert, as it attempts to recruit a tutor for a 12-month-old.
Many of submissions have now been received since the unidentified family posted their search for the £180,000 per year tutor, who needs to be "a uniquely qualified person".
Over the last few weeks, the advert has received interest across the press, with numerous asking why?
Innovative Idea
The CEO, head and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is supporting the family in their search, said that despite early skepticism, he considered the concept "forward-looking", and "advanced".
When he spoke with the family, he noted they recognized the atypical nature of their requirement, and how immature their son is.
Nevertheless, they clarified that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had postponed until their older child was five, and by that point "cultural bias had by then taken hold".
What exactly does the family refer to by "cultural leaning"?
It's "everything", the expert replied. "The way you eat, how you speak".
He explained the elder child had adopted "very nuanced, unspoken signals" from the family, and had taken on their cultural ways. The family explained to the consultant they hoped to prevent the same situation to happen again with their infant.
The intention: To engage a English tutor, who must speak with Received Pronunciation, to guide the baby from day one.
Natural Absorption
"Much of the development at the beginning here is somewhat acquired indirectly," said the expert.
It's by means of this osmosis that the family are expecting the child will adopt the UK customs they want to impart.
The consultant explained the tutor must be somebody who attended "prestigious academies – comparable categories of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The educator simply needs to be the right kind of person, they'll be carrying out things they don't even know they're doing, just naturally," he added.
Cost Not Relevant
The family told the expert the selected educator should preferably also have understanding of or enthusiasm in horse riding, alpine skiing, artistic pursuits and instrumental training so as to influence the child in a diverse set of interests.
Additionally though, he stated the family wanted the tutor to enrol the child on a variety of lessons so the child would be "equestrian training and picking up an instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's view, guiding their son develop into a "UK sophisticate" will lead to accomplishment and provide access.
"For all the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's definitely a class statement," he adds.
But, notwithstanding all this instruction in "English culture", could the child pick up alleged cultural leaning from the globally influenced family he resides with anyway?
"Absolutely", replied the CEO. "The family know this might not succeed, but they've just taken the attitude of, 'why not attempt it and we'll proceed as early as we can', because the price of it is irrelevant," he explained.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
A number of in the tutoring industry who share these concerns.
An education leader, chief executive of Blue Education, who also offer private tutors, wrote that "the development of embracing two identities, or indeed, becoming oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not engineered."
He explained that he had relocated from China to the Britain at the age of 7 years old, and had been raised knowing and embodying dual heritages. He continued to learn at the University of Cambridge.
"The concept that one individual can serve as a living vessel of UK identity, an individual who can somehow transplant the characteristics of a UK sophisticate upon a one-year-old child, appears naive and unrealistic," he stated.
"From my perspective, employing a quintessentially English tutor from early childhood will will not necessarily create the goal they want.
"I wasn't provided with such a tutor, and nevertheless I have been privileged enough to live several of the experiences they aspire for their son."
He added: "The fact is, personal identity cannot be forced from the outside; it must be chosen, and it must be internally driven."
Buying Britishness
Certainly, English culture is something the CEO hopes can be taught – and sold.
"I think the situation that the global community views us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
