"A family based in north London wants to find an exceptional and experienced tutor to support their smallest child on his early path to turning into an British gentleman."
Looking at this post, you might easily skip the wording "beginning" as just a turn of phrase.
However, it may be the most significant element of this distinctive position posting, as it attempts to recruit a tutor for a infant.
Many of submissions have since been received since the unnamed family advertised their search for the highly paid tutor, who must be "someone very special".
Over the last few weeks, the listing has attracted notice throughout the media, with many questioning why?
Innovative Idea
The CEO, head and founder of an education consultancy, which is assisting the family in their quest, explained that in spite of first skepticism, he found the concept "visionary", and "advanced".
When he met the family, he mentioned they appreciated the unconventional nature of their demand, and how early in age their son is.
Nevertheless, they clarified that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had held off until their older child was five, and by that age "cultural bias had by then set in".
What exactly did the family refer to by "cultural leaning"?
It's "all-encompassing", Adam replied. "The way you eat, the way you speak".
He said the elder child had absorbed "really subtle, unspoken signals" from the family, and had assumed their cultural habits. The family told Adam they wished to avoid the same situation to repeat itself with their younger child.
The intention: To engage a British tutor, who should speak with RP, to influence the baby from day one.
Subtle Influence
"A lot of the learning at the outset here is rather absorbed naturally," explained the CEO.
It's via this osmosis that the family are aiming the child will acquire the UK customs they want to instil.
Adam said the tutor must be someone who attended "prestigious academies – comparable categories of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The tutor simply needs to be the right kind of person, they'll be carrying out things they may not realize they're doing, effortlessly," he said.
Expense Not a Factor
The family informed the expert the selected educator should preferably also have understanding of or enthusiasm in horse riding, winter sports, creative fields and musical activities so as to influence the child in a broad spectrum of passions.
Furthermore though, he stated the family desired the tutor to sign up 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 minds, assisting their son develop into a "British gentleman" will lead to success and provide access.
"Considering the rights and wrongs of that, because it's certainly a social class indicator," he comments.
But, notwithstanding all this guidance in "English culture", would the child absorb what is termed cultural bias from the multicultural family he resides with in any case?
"Certainly", answered the CEO. "The parents understand this may not work, but they've merely embraced the attitude of, 'why not attempt it and we should start as soon as we can', because the expense of it is not a concern," he said.
Overly Optimistic
A number of in the education sector who express similar concerns.
Peter Cui, chief executive of a tutoring service, who provides personal educators, commented that "the development of embracing two identities, or actually, discovering oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not manufactured."
The expert explained that he had relocated from China to the UK at the age of seven, and had been raised knowing and living both cultures. He went on to be educated at Cambridge University.
"The concept that an individual can function as a representation of UK identity, an individual who can possibly transfer the qualities of a British gentleman onto a 12-month-old child, strikes me as naive and unrealistic," he commented.
"In my experience, having a distinctly English tutor from babyhood will not instantly create the outcome they hope for.
"I did not have such a tutor, and nevertheless I have been privileged enough to enjoy many of the opportunities they aspire for their son."
He stated: "The fact is, self-identity cannot be imposed from the outside; it must be chosen, and it must originate internally."
Buying Britishness
Of course, English culture is something the CEO thinks can be instructed – and commercialized.
"I believe the situation that the international society holds us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
