"Parents located in North London wants to find an remarkable and qualified tutor to support their youngest child on his first steps to becoming an English gentleman."
When reading this post, you might readily miss the term "beginning" as just an expression.
However, it might be the most significant part of this unique position posting, as it aims to recruit a teacher for a one-year-old.
Hundreds of submissions have now been submitted since the anonymous family published their request for the £180,000 per year tutor, who must be "someone very special".
In recent few weeks, the listing has received notice in the press, with many wondering why?
Progressive Approach
The CEO, CEO and founder of Tutors International, which is helping the family in their search, explained that notwithstanding initial doubt, he found the idea "far sighted", and "progressive".
When he met the family, he mentioned they understood the unconventional character of their demand, and how early in age their son is.
Nevertheless, they stated that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had waited until their elder sibling was five, and by that age "cultural bias had by then become established".
But what did the family refer to by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "everything", he replied. "The way you eat, the manner you speak".
He said the firstborn had adopted "extremely delicate, unspoken signals" from the family, and had adopted their cultural habits. The family told the consultant they hoped to prevent the same situation to happen again with their younger child.
The plan: To bring in a English tutor, who needs to speak with Received Pronunciation, to influence the baby from day one.
Natural Absorption
"Much of the learning at the outset here is kind of absorbed naturally," stated the CEO.
It's by means of this osmosis that the family are hoping the child will acquire the British traits they want to impart.
Adam said the tutor must be somebody who studied at "prestigious academies – similar types of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The educator just has to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be carrying out things they aren't even aware they're doing, just naturally," he commented.
Money No Object
The family told Adam the successful candidate should ideally also have knowledge of or passion in horse riding, skiing, the arts and music so as to influence the child in a wide range of passions.
Furthermore though, he said the family wanted the tutor to sign up the child on a variety of classes so the child would be "pony-riding and learning an musical instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's minds, helping their son grow into a "UK sophisticate" will lead to achievement and open doors.
"Considering the rights and wrongs of that, because it's definitely a social class indicator," he comments.
However, in spite of all this guidance in "Britishness", might the child pick up so-called cultural bias from the multicultural family he resides with in any case?
"Absolutely", answered the CEO. "They realize this might not succeed, but they've merely embraced the perspective of, 'we should try and let's go as soon as we can', because the expense of it is not relevant," he explained.
Overly Optimistic
There are some in the private teaching field who share these reservations.
Peter Cui, head and founder of a tutoring service, who supplies private tutors, wrote that "the journey of becoming bicultural, or indeed, discovering oneself, is something that must be grown into, not manufactured."
The expert wrote that he had relocated from the Far East to the UK at the period of childhood, and had been brought up experiencing and living two backgrounds. He went on to learn at Cambridge University.
"The notion that an individual can act as a representation of English culture, someone who can in some way transfer the qualities of a UK sophisticate upon a 12-month-old child, seems to me idealistic and unfeasible," he wrote.
"In my experience, engaging a distinctly British tutor from early childhood will does not automatically produce the result they desire.
"I never had that kind of mentor, and nevertheless I have been lucky enough to enjoy numerous of the experiences they aspire for their son."
He added: "The truth is, cultural identity should not be imposed from the outside influences; it must be chosen, and it must be internally driven."
Purchasing UK Culture
Naturally, Britishness is something the expert believes can be educated – and marketed.
"In my view the reality that the global community regards us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
