"Parents based in the northern part of London is looking for an exceptional and skilled instructor to guide their most junior child on his initial journey to becoming an British gentleman."
Looking at this advertisement, you might easily miss the term "initial stages" as just figurative language.
However, it may be the most important part of this unusual position posting, as it aims to find a tutor for a one-year-old.
Many of applications have since been submitted since the anonymous family published their search for the £180,000 per year tutor, who needs to be "someone very special".
During the past few weeks, the advert has received attention in the news, with several questioning why?
Progressive Approach
Adam Caller, head and founder of an education consultancy, which is assisting the family in their search, explained that notwithstanding early skepticism, he considered the idea "far sighted", and "advanced".
When he spoke with the family, he said they understood the unconventional character of their request, and how young their son is.
But, they explained that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had postponed until their firstborn was five, and by that point "cultural conditioning had already set in".
What precisely did the family mean by "cultural leaning"?
It's "comprehensive", the expert answered. "How you eat, the manner you speak".
He stated the older sibling had adopted "really subtle, body language" from the family, and had assumed their cultural ways. The family informed the consultant they did not want this pattern to repeat itself with their new baby.
The strategy: To bring in a English tutor, who needs to speak with RP, to influence the baby from day one.
Natural Absorption
"A great deal of the education at the beginning here is somewhat osmotic," explained the CEO.
It's by means of this osmosis that the family are hoping the child will pick up the English characteristics they aim to impart.
The consultant said the tutor must be an individual who attended "the appropriate educational institutions – comparable categories of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The instructor simply needs to be the suitable individual, they'll be doing things they aren't even aware they're doing, just naturally," he commented.
Cost Not Relevant
The family told Adam the selected educator should preferably also have understanding of or passion in horse riding, alpine skiing, creative fields and music so as to inspire the child in a wide range of passions.
More than that though, he explained the family wanted the tutor to sign up the child on a range of lessons so the child would be "equestrian training and starting an tool by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's perspective, guiding their son grow into a "English gentleman" will result in achievement and provide access.
"Taking into account the rights and wrongs of that, because it's definitely a status symbol," he notes.
However, notwithstanding all this instruction in "English culture", might the child absorb alleged cultural bias from the international family he lives with anyway?
"Absolutely", replied Adam. "The parents realize this could fail, but they've simply adopted the view of, 'we should try and we'll proceed as soon as we can', because the price of it is not relevant," he said.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
There are some in the private teaching field who share these concerns.
An education leader, CEO and founder of Blue Education, who also offer individual instructors, stated that "the journey of adopting dual cultures, or actually, discovering oneself, is something that must be lived into, not designed."
Peter wrote that he had moved from Asia to the Britain at the age of seven, and had been raised knowing and practicing two backgrounds. He continued to learn at a prestigious UK institution.
"The idea that an individual can act as a living vessel of UK identity, an individual who can somehow impart the characteristics of a UK sophisticate onto a infant child, appears naive and unfeasible," he wrote.
"Based on my background, employing a typically English tutor from infancy will will not instantly create the result they want.
"I did not have that kind of mentor, and yet I have been fortunate enough to live numerous of the situations they hope for their son."
He continued: "The reality is, self-identity cannot be forced from the external environment; it must be chosen, and it must come from within."
Buying Britishness
Certainly, Britishness is something Adam believes can be instructed – and marketed.
"I think the situation that the international society holds us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
