"Parents residing in North London is looking for an exceptional and skilled tutor to support their most junior child on his first steps to growing into an English gentleman."
Looking at this post, you might naturally skip the wording "beginning" as mere a turn of phrase.
However, it could be the most important aspect of this distinctive job advert, as it seeks to find a tutor for a 12-month-old.
Many of applications have now been submitted since the anonymous family published their search for the £180,000 per year tutor, who needs to be "a uniquely qualified person".
In recent few weeks, the advert has gained interest throughout the media, with many questioning why?
Forward-Thinking Method
The CEO, chief executive of Tutors International, which is helping the family in their quest, stated that despite early scepticism, he found the plan "forward-looking", and "progressive".
When he spoke with the family, he mentioned they appreciated the unusual aspect of their demand, and how young their son is.
But, they clarified that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to get a tutor, as they had waited until their elder sibling was five, and by that age "cultural bias had already set in".
But what does the family mean by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "all-encompassing", he replied. "The way you eat, the way you speak".
He stated the older sibling had absorbed "extremely delicate, unspoken signals" from the family, and had taken on their cultural ways. The family told the consultant they did not want history to happen again with their infant.
The plan: To hire a British tutor, who should speak with standard English accent, to guide the baby from day one.
Osmotic Learning
"A lot of the development at the start here is somewhat osmotic," explained the expert.
It's by means of this natural absorption that the family are hoping the child will adopt the British traits they want to cultivate.
The consultant noted the tutor must be an individual who studied at "prestigious academies – comparable categories of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The instructor simply needs to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be doing things they may not realize they're doing, effortlessly," he commented.
Cost Not Relevant
The family told him the chosen tutor should ideally also have familiarity of or interest in horse riding, winter sports, artistic pursuits and musical activities so as to inspire the child in a broad spectrum of hobbies.
Furthermore though, he said the family hoped the tutor to register the child on a variety of lessons so the child would be "equestrian training and learning an instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's minds, assisting their son develop into a "British gentleman" will bring about success and create opportunities.
"Taking into account the pros and cons of that, because it's undoubtedly a status symbol," he adds.
But, notwithstanding all this tutelage in "Britishness", could the child absorb alleged cultural influence from the multicultural family he lives with regardless?
"Certainly", said the CEO. "The family know this may not work, but they've just taken the view of, 'we should try and we should start as early as we can', because the expense of it is irrelevant," he stated.
Overly Optimistic
Several in the private teaching field who share similar doubts.
Peter Cui, chief executive of an educational organization, who also offer personal educators, commented that "the process of becoming bicultural, or in fact, forming one's identity, is something that must be experienced personally, not manufactured."
He wrote that he had moved from China to the UK at the time of 7 years old, and had been brought up experiencing and practicing dual heritages. He went on to be educated at a prestigious UK institution.
"The notion that one individual can function as a representation of Britishness, a person who can possibly transplant the attributes of a British gentleman to a infant child, seems to me optimistic and unrealistic," he stated.
"From my perspective, having a distinctly English tutor from early childhood will does not instantly achieve the outcome they hope for.
"I did not have such a tutor, and yet I have been fortunate enough to live numerous of the experiences they desire for their son."
He stated: "The truth is, personal identity should not be dictated from the outside influences; it must be selected, and it must originate internally."
Buying Britishness
Of course, Britishness is something the expert thinks can be instructed – and marketed.
"In my view the situation that the global community holds us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
