"Parents based in North London wants to find an exceptional and qualified tutor to guide their youngest child on his first steps to turning into an English gentleman."
Upon seeing this post, you might naturally miss the term "beginning" as just a turn of phrase.
Yet, it may be the most important element of this distinctive employment listing, as it aims to hire a mentor for a infant.
Many of applications have since been received since the anonymous family posted their call for the £180k-a-year tutor, who must be "a uniquely qualified person".
Over the last few weeks, the post has gained attention in the media, with many questioning why?
Forward-Thinking Method
The CEO, head and founder of Tutors International, which is helping the family in their hunt, said that despite first scepticism, he considered the idea "forward-looking", and "progressive".
When he spoke with the family, he mentioned they recognized the unconventional nature of their requirement, and how early in age their son is.
However, they clarified that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to get a tutor, as they had postponed until their firstborn was five, and by that point "cultural conditioning had already taken hold".
But what does the family indicate by "cultural bias"?
It's "comprehensive", he responded. "How you eat, how you speak".
He stated the older sibling had picked up "extremely delicate, unspoken signals" from the family, and had adopted their cultural ways. The family explained to him they wished to avoid this pattern to happen again with their new baby.
The intention: To engage a UK tutor, who needs to speak with standard English accent, to influence the baby right from the beginning.
Subtle Influence
"A great deal of the development at the start here is rather absorbed naturally," explained Adam.
It's through this natural absorption that the family are aiming the child will pick up the British traits they want to impart.
The consultant said the tutor had to be somebody who went to "the appropriate educational institutions – comparable categories of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The educator simply needs to be the suitable individual, they'll be performing things they may not realize they're doing, just naturally," he added.
Expense Not a Factor
The family informed the expert the selected educator should ideally also have understanding of or enthusiasm in horse riding, alpine skiing, creative fields and instrumental training so as to inspire the child in a wide range of passions.
Furthermore though, he said the family hoped the tutor to enrol the child on a variety of lessons so the child would be "pony-riding and learning an tool by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's minds, guiding their son become a "English gentleman" will lead to accomplishment and provide access.
"Considering the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's certainly a status symbol," he comments.
Yet, despite all this guidance in "UK identity", might the child adopt so-called cultural bias from the international family he is raised by anyway?
"Yes", answered he. "The parents understand this may not work, but they've merely embraced the attitude of, 'why not attempt it and we should start as quickly as we can', because the expense of it is not a concern," he said.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
There are some in the tutoring industry who have similar concerns.
An education leader, chief executive of Blue Education, who provides private tutors, commented that "the journey of adopting dual cultures, or in fact, discovering oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not engineered."
Peter wrote that he had relocated from China to the United Kingdom at the time of seven, and had been raised knowing and living dual heritages. He progressed to study at the University of Cambridge.
"The concept that one individual can act as a embodiment of UK identity, a person who can somehow impart the characteristics of a UK sophisticate onto a infant child, seems to me idealistic and unfeasible," he wrote.
"From my perspective, engaging a typically British tutor from babyhood will will not necessarily produce the outcome they hope for.
"I wasn't provided with such a tutor, and nevertheless I have been lucky enough to live many of the situations they hope for their son."
He stated: "The fact is, personal identity should not be imposed from the outside; it must be selected, and it must be internally driven."
Purchasing UK Culture
Certainly, English culture is something the expert believes can be instructed – and sold.
"I think the fact that the world holds us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
