"A household residing in North London is looking for an exceptional and experienced educator to support their smallest child on his early path to turning into an English gentleman."
Upon seeing this listing, you might easily overlook the phrase "beginning" as mere a turn of phrase.
Yet, it may be the most significant element of this unusual employment listing, as it aims to hire a tutor for a 12-month-old.
Hundreds of submissions have already been received since the unnamed family advertised their search for the £180,000 per year tutor, who needs to be "a uniquely qualified person".
Over the last few weeks, the post has attracted interest throughout the press, with numerous asking why?
Progressive Approach
Adam Caller, CEO and founder of an education consultancy, which is assisting the family in their search, stated that notwithstanding initial scepticism, he viewed the idea "visionary", and "advanced".
When he consulted the family, he said they recognized the unusual nature of their request, 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 postponed until their older child was five, and by that point "cultural influence had by then taken hold".
What exactly does the family mean by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "all-encompassing", he responded. "The way you eat, the manner you speak".
He said the firstborn had adopted "really subtle, unspoken signals" from the family, and had adopted their cultural habits. The family informed the consultant they did not want this pattern to happen again with their infant.
The plan: To hire a English tutor, who needs to speak with standard English accent, to shape the baby from day one.
Osmotic Learning
"A lot of the learning at the beginning here is somewhat acquired indirectly," said Adam.
It's via this subtle influence that the family are aiming the child will pick up the English characteristics they want to cultivate.
He noted the tutor had to be someone who attended "the appropriate educational institutions – the same kinds of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The instructor must be the appropriate candidate, they'll be performing things they aren't even aware they're doing, effortlessly," he said.
Money No Object
The family told the expert the selected educator should ideally also have familiarity of or interest in riding, alpine skiing, the arts and musical activities so as to shape the child in a diverse set of interests.
Additionally though, he stated the family wanted the tutor to register the child on a variety of lessons so the child would be "horseback riding and learning an musical instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's perspective, assisting their son grow into a "UK sophisticate" will lead to achievement and provide access.
"Considering the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's certainly a class statement," he notes.
Yet, in spite of all this tutelage in "UK identity", could the child pick up so-called cultural influence from the international family he is raised by regardless?
"Certainly", said he. "They know this may not work, but they've merely embraced the perspective of, 'let's give it a go and we should start as early as we can', because the price of it is irrelevant," he said.
Overly Optimistic
A number of in the education sector who express similar doubts.
Peter Cui, CEO and founder of Blue Education, who provides private tutors, stated that "the journey of becoming bicultural, or in fact, discovering oneself, is something that must be grown into, not engineered."
Peter noted that he had moved from Asia to the UK at the age of seven, and had been brought up knowing and living both cultures. He went on to be educated at Cambridge University.
"The concept that one individual can serve as a representation of English culture, someone who can somehow transfer the qualities of a UK sophisticate upon a 12-month-old child, seems to me idealistic and impractical," he stated.
"From my perspective, engaging a typically British tutor from babyhood will not automatically produce the result they hope for.
"I wasn't provided with that kind of mentor, and however I have been privileged enough to live numerous of the opportunities they hope for their son."
He added: "The reality is, personal identity cannot be dictated from the external environment; it must be embraced, and it must come from within."
Acquiring Englishness
Naturally, English culture is something the expert believes can be instructed – and commercialized.
"I think the reality that the global community regards us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
