"Parents based in the northern part of London is looking for an exceptional and skilled instructor to guide their smallest child on his early path to growing into an English gentleman."
When reading this post, you might readily overlook the phrase "beginning" as just a turn of phrase.
However, it could be the most significant aspect of this unique job advert, as it attempts to find a teacher for a infant.
Many of submissions have already been sent in since the anonymous family posted their call for the highly paid tutor, who has to be "an exceptional individual".
In recent few weeks, the advert has gained attention throughout the media, with several asking why?
Innovative Idea
Adam Caller, head and founder of Tutors International, which is helping the family in their quest, said that in spite of early scepticism, he considered the idea "forward-looking", and "progressive".
When he met the family, he said they appreciated the unusual nature of their request, and how early in age their son is.
But, they clarified that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had held off until their firstborn was five, and by that age "cultural influence had already become established".
But what did the family refer to by "cultural leaning"?
It's "everything", he answered. "The manner you eat, the manner you speak".
He stated the firstborn had adopted "really subtle, unspoken signals" from the family, and had adopted their cultural habits. The family explained to the consultant they hoped to prevent the same situation to repeat itself with their infant.
The strategy: To bring in a English tutor, who must speak with standard English accent, to influence the baby right from the beginning.
Subtle Influence
"Much of the development at the start here is kind of acquired indirectly," said Adam.
It's via this subtle influence that the family are aiming the child will pick up the UK customs they want to impart.
He said the tutor needed to be someone who studied at "prestigious academies – comparable categories of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The instructor just has to be the suitable individual, they'll be doing things they may not realize they're doing, simply by nature," he said.
Expense Not a Factor
The family told him the chosen tutor should ideally also have knowledge of or enthusiasm in equestrian activities, skiing, artistic pursuits and instrumental training so as to influence the child in a wide range of hobbies.
Furthermore though, he explained the family hoped the tutor to register the child on a range of courses so the child would be "pony-riding and starting an instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's minds, assisting their son grow into a "UK sophisticate" will bring about achievement and open doors.
"Considering the pros and cons of that, because it's certainly a class statement," he notes.
Yet, in spite of all this tutelage in "Britishness", might the child adopt what is termed cultural leaning from the multicultural family he is raised by regardless?
"Certainly", said he. "They know this may not work, but they've simply adopted the perspective of, 'why not attempt it and we should start as early as we can', because the cost of it is irrelevant," he explained.
Impractical
A number of in the tutoring industry who share similar reservations.
Peter Cui, chief executive of a tutoring service, who supplies personal educators, wrote that "the development of adopting dual cultures, or in fact, becoming oneself, is something that must be lived into, not engineered."
He explained that he had relocated from Asia to the UK at the age of 7 years old, and had been educated experiencing and living both cultures. He progressed to learn at a prestigious UK institution.
"The idea that one individual can serve as a representation of English culture, someone who can possibly impart the characteristics of a UK sophisticate upon a one-year-old child, seems to me idealistic and unrealistic," he stated.
"From my perspective, having a quintessentially UK tutor from early childhood will will not necessarily achieve the goal they hope for.
"I never had such a tutor, and yet I have been fortunate enough to experience many of the experiences they desire for their son."
He added: "The reality is, personal identity should not be imposed from the external environment; it must be embraced, and it must originate internally."
Buying Britishness
Naturally, English culture is something Adam hopes can be educated – and commercialized.
"In my view the fact that the international society holds us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
