"A family residing in north London is looking for an extraordinary and experienced instructor to assist their most junior child on his first steps to becoming an British gentleman."
Upon seeing this advertisement, you might naturally overlook the wording "beginning" as simple figurative language.
But, it might be the most significant element of this unusual employment listing, as it seeks to hire a mentor for a one-year-old.
Hundreds of submissions have already been sent in since the anonymous family posted their call for the highly paid tutor, who must be "someone very special".
In recent few weeks, the post has gained interest in the media, with several wondering why?
Progressive Approach
A tutoring expert, chief executive of an education consultancy, which is assisting the family in their quest, stated that despite first doubt, he found the concept "visionary", and "progressive".
When he consulted the family, he noted they understood the atypical nature of their request, and how immature their son is.
But, they stated that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had held off until their older child was five, and by that point "cultural influence had already become established".
What precisely did the family refer to by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "everything", the expert responded. "How you eat, how you speak".
He explained the elder child had picked up "extremely delicate, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had adopted their cultural norms. The family told Adam they wished to avoid the same situation to repeat itself with their younger child.
The strategy: To hire a UK tutor, who must speak with RP, to guide the baby from day one.
Osmotic Learning
"A great deal of the learning at the beginning here is rather absorbed naturally," explained the CEO.
It's by means of this osmosis that the family are expecting the child will adopt the English characteristics they wish to cultivate.
Adam noted the tutor must be an individual who went to "the appropriate educational institutions – similar types of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The tutor just has to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be carrying out things they may not realize they're doing, simply by nature," he said.
Money No Object
The family explained to Adam the successful candidate should preferably also have knowledge of or passion in riding, skiing, artistic pursuits and music so as to inspire the child in a wide range of hobbies.
Furthermore though, he stated the family wanted the tutor to sign up the child on a selection of classes so the child would be "horseback riding and learning an musical instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's view, helping their son develop into a "UK sophisticate" will lead to accomplishment and open doors.
"For all the pros and cons of that, because it's definitely a social class indicator," he adds.
But, notwithstanding all this instruction in "UK identity", could the child adopt alleged cultural influence from the globally influenced family he resides with anyway?
"Yes", said the CEO. "They know this might not succeed, but they've just taken the perspective of, 'why not attempt it and let's go as early as we can', because the expense of it is irrelevant," he stated.
Impractical
Several in the tutoring industry who express those doubts.
Peter Cui, head and founder of a tutoring service, who provides personal educators, wrote that "the process of becoming bicultural, or in fact, becoming oneself, is something that must be lived into, not engineered."
The expert explained that he had moved from China to the UK at the time of seven, and had been raised understanding and practicing two backgrounds. He progressed to be educated at the University of Cambridge.
"The notion that an individual can act as a living vessel of Britishness, an individual who can somehow transplant the characteristics of a English gentleman upon a infant child, strikes me as idealistic and impractical," he commented.
"In my experience, employing a typically UK tutor from early childhood will does not automatically produce the goal they desire.
"I did not have that kind of mentor, and nevertheless I have been lucky enough to live many of the opportunities they aspire for their son."
He continued: "The truth is, personal identity can not be forced from the external environment; it must be chosen, and it must originate internally."
Acquiring Englishness
Certainly, UK identity is something the expert hopes can be instructed – and commercialized.
"I believe the situation that the global community regards us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
