"Parents located in north London wants to find an extraordinary and qualified educator to guide their youngest child on his first steps to becoming an English gentleman."
Upon seeing this post, you might readily miss the wording "beginning" as simple figurative language.
Yet, it could be the crucial element of this unique position posting, as it attempts to recruit a tutor for a one-year-old.
Hundreds of submissions have already been sent in since the unnamed family posted their call for the £180k-a-year tutor, who must be "someone very special".
In recent few weeks, the advert has attracted attention throughout the news, with numerous asking why?
Innovative Idea
Adam Caller, chief executive of a global tutoring firm, which is supporting the family in their hunt, said that despite first skepticism, he considered the idea "forward-looking", and "progressive".
When he consulted the family, he noted they recognized the unconventional character of their requirement, and how early in age their son is.
But, they stated that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had held off until their older child was five, and by that age "cultural bias had by then become established".
But what does the family indicate by "cultural leaning"?
It's "comprehensive", Adam answered. "How you eat, the way you speak".
He stated the firstborn had picked up "really subtle, unspoken signals" from the family, and had taken on their cultural norms. The family told the consultant they did not want the same situation to recur with their new baby.
The plan: To hire a English tutor, who should speak with Received Pronunciation, to guide the baby from the very start.
Subtle Influence
"Much of the learning at the outset here is rather absorbed naturally," stated Adam.
It's via this natural absorption that the family are aiming the child will pick up the UK customs they aim to cultivate.
The consultant noted the tutor must be someone who went to "the appropriate educational institutions – the same kinds of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The tutor simply needs to be the right kind of person, they'll be performing things they aren't even aware they're doing, simply by nature," he added.
Money No Object
The family explained to the expert the successful candidate should preferably also have knowledge of or enthusiasm in riding, winter sports, the arts and musical activities so as to influence the child in a diverse set of interests.
More than that though, he said the family wanted the tutor to sign up the child on a selection of courses so the child would be "equestrian training and starting an musical instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's minds, assisting their son become a "British gentleman" will result in accomplishment and provide access.
"Taking into account the rights and wrongs of that, because it's undoubtedly a social class indicator," he notes.
However, notwithstanding all this guidance in "Britishness", would the child adopt what is termed cultural bias from the multicultural family he lives with in any case?
"Absolutely", replied the CEO. "They realize this may not work, but they've simply adopted the perspective of, 'why not attempt it and we'll proceed as soon as we can', because the price of it is not a concern," he explained.
Impractical
A number of in the tutoring industry who share similar doubts.
Peter Cui, CEO and founder of a tutoring service, who also offer private tutors, wrote that "the journey of adopting dual cultures, or actually, becoming oneself, is something that must be lived into, not manufactured."
The expert wrote that he had relocated from the Far East to the UK at the age of childhood, and had been brought up understanding and practicing dual heritages. He went on to be educated at Cambridge University.
"The idea that a single person can function as a embodiment of UK identity, a person who can possibly transplant the qualities of a UK sophisticate to a infant child, appears naive and impractical," he commented.
"In my experience, having a quintessentially British tutor from early childhood will will not necessarily produce the outcome they hope for.
"I wasn't provided with such a figure, and however I have been privileged enough to enjoy several of the opportunities they hope for their son."
He added: "The truth is, self-identity cannot be dictated from the outside; it must be chosen, and it must come from within."
Purchasing UK Culture
Naturally, UK identity is something the expert thinks can be instructed – and sold.
"In my view the reality that the international society holds us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
