"A family based in North London is looking for an exceptional and skilled educator to support their smallest child on his initial journey to growing into an English gentleman."
Upon seeing this post, you might easily miss the wording "initial stages" as simple a turn of phrase.
However, it might be the most important part of this unusual employment listing, as it seeks to find a tutor for a 12-month-old.
Many of responses have now been received since the anonymous family posted their request for the highly paid tutor, who needs to be "a uniquely qualified person".
In recent few weeks, the post has gained attention in the press, with several asking why?
Progressive Approach
Adam Caller, CEO and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is helping the family in their hunt, stated that despite initial skepticism, he viewed the plan "far sighted", and "progressive".
When he consulted the family, he noted they appreciated the atypical character of their requirement, and how young their son is.
But, they clarified that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had held off until their firstborn was five, and by that age "cultural influence had by then become established".
But what did the family refer to by "cultural leaning"?
It's "everything", the expert responded. "The manner you eat, how you speak".
He stated the firstborn had picked up "really subtle, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had adopted their cultural habits. The family told him they hoped to prevent the same situation to repeat itself with their younger child.
The intention: To bring in a UK tutor, who needs to speak with Received Pronunciation, to shape the baby right from the beginning.
Osmotic Learning
"A lot of the development at the outset here is somewhat absorbed naturally," said the expert.
It's by means of this subtle influence that the family are hoping the child will pick up the British traits they want to cultivate.
He noted the tutor must be somebody who went to "the right kinds of schools – comparable categories of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The tutor must be the right kind of person, they'll be performing things they aren't even aware they're doing, just naturally," he commented.
Expense Not a Factor
The family told the expert the successful candidate should ideally also have knowledge of or interest in horse riding, winter sports, creative fields and musical activities so as to shape the child in a wide range of interests.
Additionally though, he said the family hoped the tutor to register the child on a selection of lessons so the child would be "horseback riding and starting an tool by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's view, guiding their son grow into a "UK sophisticate" will result in achievement and create opportunities.
"Taking into account the rights and wrongs of that, because it's undoubtedly a status symbol," he adds.
But, in spite of all this guidance in "Britishness", might the child pick up what is termed cultural bias from the international family he lives with regardless?
"Absolutely", answered the CEO. "The family know this might not succeed, but they've simply adopted the view of, 'why not attempt it and let's go as soon as we can', because the price of it is irrelevant," he stated.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
There are some in the tutoring industry who express these concerns.
Peter Cui, CEO and founder of an educational organization, who provides individual instructors, wrote that "the journey of embracing two identities, or indeed, becoming oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not engineered."
Peter noted that he had relocated from the Far East to the United Kingdom at the time of 7 years old, and had been educated knowing and living two backgrounds. He went on to be educated at Cambridge University.
"The concept that a single person can serve as a embodiment of English culture, someone who can possibly impart the qualities of a UK sophisticate onto a one-year-old child, appears idealistic and impractical," he commented.
"In my experience, having a distinctly English tutor from infancy will not necessarily create the goal they want.
"I never had such a tutor, and nevertheless I have been lucky enough to experience numerous of the experiences they hope for their son."
He continued: "The fact is, self-identity cannot be forced from the outside; it must be chosen, and it must come from within."
Buying Britishness
Naturally, Britishness is something Adam believes can be taught – and marketed.
"In my view the situation that the global community views us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
