"A household located in the northern part of London is looking for an extraordinary and skilled instructor to support their youngest child on his early path to growing into an British gentleman."
Upon seeing this post, you might easily overlook the phrase "beginning" as simple a turn of phrase.
However, it may be the most important element of this distinctive job advert, as it aims to recruit a mentor for a one-year-old.
Many of submissions have now been sent in since the unidentified family posted their request for the £180k-a-year tutor, who needs to be "an exceptional individual".
Over the last few weeks, the listing has received interest throughout the press, with numerous questioning why?
Innovative Idea
Adam Caller, CEO and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is assisting the family in their hunt, explained that despite first skepticism, he found the concept "far sighted", and "progressive".
When he spoke with the family, he noted they recognized the atypical character of their request, and how early in age their son is.
But, they clarified that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had postponed until their older child was five, and by that age "cultural influence had by then set in".
What precisely did the family indicate by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "all-encompassing", Adam replied. "The way you eat, the way you speak".
He stated the firstborn had absorbed "extremely delicate, body language" from the family, and had taken on their cultural ways. The family told him they hoped to prevent history to recur with their younger child.
The intention: To engage a UK tutor, who needs to speak with standard English accent, to guide the baby from the very start.
Osmotic Learning
"A great deal of the development at the beginning here is rather osmotic," stated Adam.
It's by means of this natural absorption that the family are hoping the child will pick up the UK customs they aim to impart.
Adam noted the tutor must be somebody who attended "the appropriate educational institutions – comparable categories of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The tutor simply needs to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be doing things they may not realize they're doing, effortlessly," he added.
Money No Object
The family told Adam the selected educator should ideally also have familiarity of or interest in equestrian activities, skiing, artistic pursuits and instrumental training so as to shape the child in a wide range of interests.
More than that though, he said the family wanted the tutor to enrol the child on a selection of courses so the child would be "horseback riding and picking up an instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's view, helping their son develop into a "English gentleman" will bring about success and open doors.
"Considering the rights and wrongs of that, because it's certainly a status symbol," he comments.
However, despite all this tutelage in "UK identity", could the child adopt so-called cultural bias from the international family he is raised by anyway?
"Yes", replied the CEO. "They know this could fail, but they've merely embraced the view of, 'why not attempt it and let's go as early as we can', because the expense of it is not a concern," he stated.
Overly Optimistic
Several in the education sector who express similar reservations.
Peter Cui, head and founder of Blue Education, who also offer individual instructors, commented that "the process of embracing two identities, or indeed, forming one's identity, is something that must be lived into, not manufactured."
Peter explained that he had moved from Asia to the UK at the age of childhood, and had been raised experiencing and living dual heritages. He went on to study at a prestigious UK institution.
"The concept that an individual can act as a living vessel of UK identity, a person who can somehow impart the characteristics of a British gentleman onto a infant child, appears naive and unfeasible," he commented.
"From my perspective, employing a distinctly British tutor from early childhood will not necessarily achieve the result they hope for.
"I wasn't provided with such a figure, and yet I have been fortunate enough to enjoy numerous of the situations they desire for their son."
He stated: "The truth is, cultural identity should not be forced from the outside influences; it must be selected, and it must originate internally."
Purchasing UK Culture
Naturally, UK identity is something the CEO hopes can be educated – and commercialized.
"I think the situation that the international society regards us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
