"A family located in north London is looking for an remarkable and experienced instructor to guide their smallest child on his first steps to becoming an British gentleman."
When reading this advertisement, you might readily overlook the phrase "beginning" as just a turn of phrase.
But, it could be the crucial part of this unusual employment listing, as it seeks to hire a mentor for a one-year-old.
Hundreds of submissions have since been received since the unidentified family advertised their search for the highly paid tutor, who must be "a uniquely qualified person".
Over the last few weeks, the post has received notice across the press, with several asking why?
Progressive Approach
Adam Caller, chief executive of Tutors International, which is helping the family in their search, explained that in spite of initial doubt, he found the idea "forward-looking", and "advanced".
When he spoke with the family, he mentioned they understood the unusual nature of their request, and how immature their son is.
However, they stated that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had waited until their elder sibling was five, and by that point "cultural influence had by then taken hold".
But what does the family refer to by "cultural bias"?
It's "everything", he replied. "The way you eat, the way you speak".
He said the older sibling had absorbed "very nuanced, unspoken signals" from the family, and had adopted their cultural ways. The family explained to Adam they wished to avoid this pattern to recur with their younger child.
The intention: To bring in a English tutor, who needs to speak with standard English accent, to guide the baby right from the beginning.
Natural Absorption
"A lot of the education at the beginning here is kind of absorbed naturally," explained Adam.
It's by means of this subtle influence that the family are hoping the child will adopt the UK customs they want to instil.
He explained the tutor had to be someone who studied at "the right kinds of schools – similar types of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The educator simply needs to be the suitable individual, they'll be performing things they may not realize they're doing, simply by nature," he said.
Money No Object
The family informed him the successful candidate should ideally also have familiarity of or passion in equestrian activities, skiing, artistic pursuits and instrumental training so as to inspire the child in a wide range of interests.
More than that though, he said the family hoped the tutor to register the child on a range of courses so the child would be "equestrian training and starting an instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's minds, guiding their son develop into a "British gentleman" will bring about accomplishment and create opportunities.
"For all the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's definitely a social class indicator," he notes.
But, notwithstanding all this instruction in "English culture", might the child absorb alleged cultural leaning from the multicultural family he is raised by in any case?
"Yes", replied the CEO. "They understand this might not succeed, but they've merely embraced the perspective of, 'why not attempt it and let's go as early as we can', because the cost of it is irrelevant," he said.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
Several in the tutoring industry who have those doubts.
Peter Cui, CEO and founder of a tutoring service, who also offer personal educators, commented that "the process of embracing two identities, or indeed, forming one's identity, is something that must be experienced personally, not manufactured."
Peter noted that he had emigrated from China to the Britain at the period of 7 years old, and had been brought up understanding and embodying two backgrounds. He went on to learn at Cambridge University.
"The idea that an individual can function as a embodiment of Britishness, an individual who can somehow transfer the qualities of a UK sophisticate upon a infant child, strikes me as idealistic and unfeasible," he stated.
"From my perspective, engaging a distinctly UK tutor from infancy will does not instantly produce the goal they hope for.
"I wasn't provided with such a tutor, and however I have been lucky enough to live several of the experiences they hope for their son."
He continued: "The fact is, cultural identity cannot be dictated from the external environment; it must be embraced, and it must be internally driven."
Purchasing UK Culture
Naturally, Britishness is something the CEO thinks 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
