"Parents residing in the northern part of London wants to find an exceptional and qualified instructor to support their most junior child on his first steps to becoming an English gentleman."
When reading this post, you might easily skip the phrase "beginning" as just figurative language.
But, it could be the most important aspect of this distinctive position posting, as it seeks to find a tutor for a one-year-old.
Many of applications have now been received since the unnamed family posted their call for the £180,000 per year tutor, who must be "an exceptional individual".
Over the last few weeks, the post has received attention in the news, with several asking why?
Forward-Thinking Method
Adam Caller, chief executive of Tutors International, which is helping the family in their search, said that notwithstanding initial doubt, he considered the concept "visionary", and "innovative".
When he consulted the family, he mentioned they understood the unconventional aspect of their request, and how immature their son is.
But, they clarified that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to get a tutor, as they had waited until their older child was five, and by that point "cultural bias had already become established".
But what does the family indicate by "cultural leaning"?
It's "everything", he replied. "How you eat, the manner you speak".
He explained the elder child had picked up "very nuanced, body language" from the family, and had assumed their cultural norms. The family told Adam they did not want history to recur with their infant.
The strategy: To bring in a British tutor, who must speak with Received Pronunciation, to guide the baby from day one.
Subtle Influence
"A great deal of the development at the start here is kind of absorbed naturally," explained Adam.
It's via this subtle influence that the family are hoping the child will pick up the English characteristics they wish to cultivate.
The consultant said the tutor had to be somebody who attended "prestigious academies – similar types of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The educator just has to be the suitable individual, they'll be performing things they don't even know they're doing, just naturally," he said.
Expense Not a Factor
The family informed the expert the successful candidate should ideally also have knowledge of or enthusiasm in riding, skiing, artistic pursuits and music so as to shape the child in a diverse set of hobbies.
More than that though, he said the family wanted the tutor to register the child on a range of classes so the child would be "horseback riding and picking up an instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's view, guiding their son grow into a "English gentleman" will result in success and provide access.
"For all the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's certainly a class statement," he notes.
But, despite all this instruction in "Britishness", could the child pick up alleged cultural influence from the globally influenced family he is raised by in any case?
"Yes", said the CEO. "They understand this could fail, but they've merely embraced the attitude of, 'we should try and we'll proceed as soon as we can', because the price of it is irrelevant," he explained.
Overly Optimistic
A number of in the education sector who share these reservations.
An education leader, CEO and founder of an educational organization, who supplies private tutors, wrote that "the process of becoming bicultural, or in fact, forming one's identity, is something that must be lived into, not engineered."
He explained that he had moved from the Far East to the UK at the age of childhood, and had been raised understanding and practicing both cultures. He continued to be educated at Cambridge University.
"The concept that an individual can act as a embodiment of English culture, someone who can in some way transfer the attributes of a UK sophisticate onto a infant child, strikes me as naive and unfeasible," he stated.
"From my perspective, employing a distinctly British tutor from babyhood will not instantly produce the outcome they desire.
"I never had that kind of mentor, and nevertheless I have been lucky enough to experience many of the experiences they hope for their son."
He added: "The fact is, self-identity can not be dictated from the outside; it must be chosen, and it must be internally driven."
Buying Britishness
Of course, UK identity is something Adam hopes can be instructed – and sold.
"In my view the reality that the world views us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
