"Parents based in north London seeks an exceptional and skilled educator to support their most junior child on his first steps to becoming an British gentleman."
Upon seeing this advertisement, you might easily miss the wording "beginning" as just figurative language.
However, it might be the crucial element of this unique employment listing, as it aims to recruit a mentor for a 12-month-old.
Many of submissions have already been submitted since the unnamed family posted their request for the highly paid tutor, who has to be "an exceptional individual".
During the past few weeks, the listing has attracted notice throughout the news, with many asking why?
Innovative Idea
The CEO, CEO and founder of Tutors International, which is helping the family in their quest, said that in spite of initial scepticism, he viewed the concept "forward-looking", and "progressive".
When he consulted the family, he noted they appreciated the unconventional character of their demand, and how immature their son is.
But, they clarified that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had postponed until their elder sibling was five, and by that stage "cultural bias had by then become established".
But what did the family mean by "cultural leaning"?
It's "comprehensive", the expert answered. "The manner you eat, the way you speak".
He said the elder child had absorbed "really subtle, body language" from the family, and had adopted their cultural norms. The family informed him they did not want history to happen again with their new baby.
The strategy: To hire a British tutor, who needs to speak with RP, to influence the baby from the very start.
Subtle Influence
"A great deal of the learning at the outset here is kind of absorbed naturally," explained the expert.
It's through this osmosis that the family are hoping the child will adopt the British traits they aim to impart.
Adam explained the tutor had to be an individual who attended "the right kinds of schools – similar types of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The instructor just has to be the suitable individual, they'll be performing things they aren't even aware they're doing, just naturally," he said.
Cost Not Relevant
The family explained to him the chosen tutor should ideally also have knowledge of or interest in equestrian activities, winter sports, the arts and musical activities so as to influence 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 variety of lessons so the child would be "pony-riding and learning an tool by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's minds, guiding their son become a "British gentleman" will result in achievement and create opportunities.
"For all the pros and cons of that, because it's definitely a social class indicator," he comments.
But, despite all this instruction in "Britishness", might the child adopt what is termed cultural leaning from the multicultural family he is raised by in any case?
"Yes", said the CEO. "They know this might not succeed, but they've merely embraced the perspective of, 'we should try and we should start as soon as we can', because the price of it is not relevant," he explained.
Overly Optimistic
There are some in the tutoring industry who have similar concerns.
An education leader, chief executive of Blue Education, who supplies private tutors, stated that "the development of adopting dual cultures, or indeed, becoming oneself, is something that must be grown into, not designed."
He wrote that he had moved from Asia to the United Kingdom at the age of 7 years old, and had been brought up knowing and embodying dual heritages. He continued to study at Cambridge University.
"The idea that one individual can function as a embodiment of Britishness, a person who can somehow transplant the characteristics of a British gentleman onto a 12-month-old child, strikes me as naive and unrealistic," he stated.
"Based on my background, employing a quintessentially UK tutor from infancy will not instantly achieve the result they desire.
"I never had such a figure, and however I have been privileged enough to enjoy numerous of the opportunities they desire for their son."
He continued: "The fact is, personal identity can not be forced from the external environment; it must be selected, and it must originate internally."
Buying Britishness
Certainly, UK identity is something the expert hopes can be educated – and sold.
"I think the situation that the global community regards us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
