"A family based in North London is looking for an remarkable and qualified educator to support their youngest child on his early path to growing into an English gentleman."
When reading this listing, you might easily miss the phrase "beginning" as simple a turn of phrase.
However, it could be the crucial part of this unusual job advert, as it aims to find a tutor for a infant.
Hundreds of applications have already been received since the anonymous family advertised their search for the £180,000 per year tutor, who must be "an exceptional individual".
In recent few weeks, the advert has attracted interest across the media, with numerous wondering why?
Innovative Idea
Adam Caller, chief executive of an education consultancy, which is assisting the family in their hunt, said that notwithstanding early skepticism, he viewed the plan "forward-looking", and "innovative".
When he spoke with the family, he mentioned they recognized the unconventional aspect of their request, and how immature their son is.
But, they stated that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to get a tutor, as they had postponed until their firstborn was five, and by that age "cultural bias had already become established".
What precisely did the family mean by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "comprehensive", Adam answered. "The way you eat, the manner you speak".
He said the older sibling had absorbed "really subtle, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had taken on their cultural norms. The family informed Adam they did not want this pattern to repeat itself with their younger child.
The strategy: To engage a British tutor, who must speak with standard English accent, to influence the baby right from the beginning.
Subtle Influence
"Much of the learning at the start here is rather absorbed naturally," explained the expert.
It's through this osmosis that the family are aiming the child will acquire the UK customs they want to impart.
Adam explained the tutor had to be someone who attended "the right kinds of schools – similar types of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The instructor just has to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be carrying out things they don't even know they're doing, simply by nature," he said.
Expense Not a Factor
The family explained to Adam the successful candidate should ideally also have understanding of or passion in riding, skiing, the arts and music so as to inspire the child in a diverse set of interests.
Furthermore though, he stated the family hoped the tutor to register the child on a variety of lessons so the child would be "equestrian training and learning an tool by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's perspective, guiding their son develop into a "English gentleman" will result in success and open doors.
"Taking into account the rights and wrongs of that, because it's undoubtedly a class statement," he notes.
However, notwithstanding all this guidance in "English culture", might the child adopt what is termed cultural influence from the international family he is raised by in any case?
"Absolutely", answered the CEO. "The parents understand this could fail, but they've just taken the view of, 'why not attempt it and let's go as soon as we can', because the expense of it is not relevant," he stated.
Impractical
There are some in the tutoring industry who share those reservations.
An education leader, chief executive of a tutoring service, who provides personal educators, wrote that "the process of adopting dual cultures, or actually, discovering oneself, is something that must be grown into, not engineered."
Peter wrote that he had moved from Asia to the Britain at the age of childhood, and had been brought up experiencing and practicing dual heritages. He progressed to be educated at a prestigious UK institution.
"The idea that an individual can act as a living vessel of UK identity, a person who can somehow transfer the attributes of a UK sophisticate to a infant child, appears idealistic and impractical," he wrote.
"From my perspective, employing a distinctly English tutor from early childhood will will not necessarily create the result they want.
"I never had that kind of mentor, and nevertheless I have been fortunate enough to experience numerous of the situations they aspire for their son."
He added: "The truth is, self-identity cannot be dictated from the outside influences; it must be chosen, and it must originate internally."
Acquiring Englishness
Naturally, English culture is something the expert believes can be taught – and commercialized.
"In my view the fact that the global community views us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
