"A household located in north London seeks an extraordinary and experienced educator to assist their most junior child on his early path to becoming an English gentleman."
Looking at this listing, you might easily miss the term "beginning" as mere a turn of phrase.
Yet, it could be the most important part of this unusual position posting, as it attempts to find a tutor for a 12-month-old.
Many of applications have already been sent in since the unidentified family posted their call for the highly paid tutor, who needs to be "an exceptional individual".
During the past few weeks, the listing has gained interest in the press, with several asking why?
Progressive Approach
The CEO, CEO and founder of an education consultancy, which is helping the family in their hunt, explained that in spite of first scepticism, he found the concept "visionary", and "innovative".
When he consulted the family, he said they appreciated the unusual aspect of their demand, and how immature 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 firstborn was five, and by that stage "cultural influence had by then become established".
What precisely does the family refer to by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "everything", he answered. "The way you eat, the manner you speak".
He said the elder child had picked up "really subtle, body language" from the family, and had assumed their cultural habits. The family told him they wished to avoid the same situation to happen again with their infant.
The strategy: To bring in a English tutor, who must speak with RP, to influence the baby from the very start.
Subtle Influence
"A great deal of the education at the outset here is kind of acquired indirectly," stated the expert.
It's by means of this subtle influence that the family are aiming the child will adopt the British traits they wish to impart.
Adam said the tutor had to be an individual who attended "the right kinds of schools – the same kinds of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The tutor just has to be the suitable individual, they'll be doing things they aren't even aware they're doing, simply by nature," he said.
Expense Not a Factor
The family explained to him the selected educator should ideally also have knowledge of or enthusiasm in equestrian activities, skiing, artistic pursuits and music so as to inspire the child in a diverse set of passions.
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 learning an instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's minds, helping their son develop into a "English gentleman" will result in success and provide access.
"For all the rights and wrongs of that, because it's certainly a social class indicator," he notes.
However, despite all this instruction in "Britishness", could the child absorb alleged cultural bias from the international family he lives with in any case?
"Yes", answered he. "The parents realize this may not work, but they've simply adopted the perspective of, 'why not attempt it and let's go as early as we can', because the expense of it is not a concern," he explained.
Overly Optimistic
Several in the private teaching field who have similar doubts.
Peter Cui, CEO and founder of a tutoring service, who provides individual instructors, commented that "the process of embracing two identities, or actually, discovering oneself, is something that must be grown into, not designed."
Peter explained that he had emigrated from the Far East to the Britain at the period of childhood, and had been brought up understanding and living both cultures. He continued to learn at the University of Cambridge.
"The idea that an individual can act as a embodiment of Britishness, a person who can possibly transplant the qualities of a UK sophisticate to a one-year-old child, appears naive and unfeasible," he wrote.
"Based on my background, engaging a quintessentially English tutor from babyhood will will not automatically achieve the result they want.
"I did not have that kind of mentor, and yet I have been lucky enough to experience many of the situations they desire for their son."
He continued: "The truth is, personal identity should not be imposed from the external environment; it must be chosen, and it must come from within."
Buying Britishness
Certainly, UK identity is something the expert thinks can be instructed – and commercialized.
"I believe the fact that the international society holds us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
