"Parents located in North London seeks an remarkable and experienced instructor to guide their most junior child on his initial journey to becoming an English gentleman."
When reading this listing, you might easily miss the term "beginning" as mere a turn of phrase.
But, it could be the most significant element of this unusual position posting, as it seeks to find a teacher for a one-year-old.
Many of responses have since been received since the unidentified family advertised their call for the £180k-a-year tutor, who has to be "someone very special".
Over the last few weeks, the advert has received interest in the media, with numerous wondering why?
Progressive Approach
Adam Caller, CEO and founder of Tutors International, which is supporting the family in their search, explained that in spite of first skepticism, he found the plan "far sighted", and "advanced".
When he spoke with the family, he noted they recognized the unconventional aspect of their request, and how immature their son is.
But, they explained that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to get a tutor, as they had postponed until their elder sibling was five, and by that stage "cultural conditioning had by then set in".
What exactly did the family indicate by "cultural leaning"?
It's "all-encompassing", the expert answered. "The way you eat, the manner you speak".
He stated the elder child had adopted "extremely delicate, unspoken signals" from the family, and had assumed their cultural habits. The family told him they wished to avoid this pattern to happen again with their infant.
The strategy: To bring in a British tutor, who must speak with standard English accent, to guide the baby from day one.
Natural Absorption
"A lot of the education at the start here is somewhat absorbed naturally," said the CEO.
It's by means of this natural absorption that the family are hoping the child will pick up the British traits they want to instil.
The consultant said the tutor must be somebody who went to "prestigious academies – similar types of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The instructor just has to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be performing things they aren't even aware they're doing, just naturally," he commented.
Money No Object
The family informed Adam the successful candidate should ideally also have understanding of or interest in horse riding, winter sports, the arts and instrumental training so as to shape the child in a broad spectrum of hobbies.
More than that though, he said the family hoped the tutor to enrol the child on a variety of lessons so the child would be "pony-riding and learning an instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's perspective, assisting their son grow into a "English gentleman" will lead to accomplishment and provide access.
"For all the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's definitely a social class indicator," he comments.
Yet, notwithstanding all this instruction in "UK identity", might the child adopt what is termed cultural influence from the globally influenced family he is raised by in any case?
"Certainly", said he. "The parents know this may not work, but they've just taken the attitude of, 'let's give it a go and let's go as soon as we can', because the cost of it is irrelevant," he explained.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
Several in the tutoring industry who express similar concerns.
Peter Cui, head and founder of Blue Education, who supplies personal educators, commented that "the process of becoming bicultural, or actually, discovering oneself, is something that must be lived into, not engineered."
Peter wrote that he had relocated from Asia to the Britain at the time of childhood, and had been brought up experiencing and practicing dual heritages. He went on to be educated at a prestigious UK institution.
"The notion that an individual can act as a representation of Britishness, someone who can possibly transfer the characteristics of a UK sophisticate upon a 12-month-old child, strikes me as idealistic and unrealistic," he wrote.
"From my perspective, having a distinctly English tutor from babyhood will does not instantly achieve the goal they desire.
"I did not have such a figure, and yet I have been privileged enough to experience several of the situations they hope for their son."
He continued: "The fact is, self-identity cannot be forced from the outside influences; it must be chosen, and it must originate internally."
Purchasing UK Culture
Naturally, English culture is something the CEO believes can be educated – and sold.
"I believe the situation that the international society views us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
