"Parents based in North London wants to find an exceptional and experienced tutor to guide their smallest child on his initial journey to turning into an English gentleman."
Looking at this advertisement, you might easily miss the phrase "beginning" as just an expression.
Yet, it might be the most significant element of this unusual job advert, as it seeks to hire a mentor for a infant.
Hundreds of submissions have now been received since the anonymous family advertised their call for the highly paid tutor, who needs to be "an exceptional individual".
In recent few weeks, the advert has received notice throughout the news, with numerous asking why?
Innovative Idea
Adam Caller, CEO and founder of an education consultancy, which is helping the family in their hunt, stated that notwithstanding early scepticism, he found the concept "visionary", and "innovative".
When he consulted the family, he mentioned they understood the unusual nature of their requirement, and how early in age their son is.
Nevertheless, they explained that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had held off until their older child was five, and by that stage "cultural bias had already taken hold".
But what did the family mean by "cultural leaning"?
It's "comprehensive", he replied. "The manner you eat, how you speak".
He said the elder child had adopted "really subtle, body language" from the family, and had assumed their cultural habits. The family told him they wished to avoid the same situation to repeat itself with their infant.
The intention: To engage a English tutor, who should speak with standard English accent, to shape the baby right from the beginning.
Subtle Influence
"A lot of the development at the outset here is rather absorbed naturally," explained Adam.
It's by means of this subtle influence that the family are hoping the child will pick up the English characteristics they want to cultivate.
The consultant noted the tutor had to be someone who went to "prestigious academies – the same kinds of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The tutor must be the right kind of person, they'll be carrying out things they may not realize they're doing, effortlessly," he added.
Expense Not a Factor
The family explained to the expert the selected educator should preferably also have knowledge of or passion in horse riding, alpine skiing, artistic pursuits and instrumental training so as to influence the child in a diverse set of passions.
Furthermore though, he said the family hoped the tutor to enrol the child on a selection of lessons so the child would be "pony-riding and starting an instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's perspective, assisting their son develop into a "UK sophisticate" will result in success and open doors.
"Taking into account the pros and cons of that, because it's certainly a status symbol," he comments.
However, in spite of all this instruction in "English culture", could the child pick up alleged cultural influence from the international family he lives with regardless?
"Yes", answered Adam. "The parents understand this may not work, but they've merely embraced the attitude of, 'we should try and let's go as quickly as we can', because the expense of it is irrelevant," he stated.
Overly Optimistic
A number of in the education sector who express these reservations.
Peter Cui, head and founder of Blue Education, who also offer private tutors, wrote that "the process of becoming bicultural, or actually, discovering oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not engineered."
He wrote that he had moved from Asia to the UK at the age of seven, and had been brought up understanding and practicing two backgrounds. He went on to study at a prestigious UK institution.
"The idea that a single person can serve as a embodiment of English culture, someone who can possibly transplant the attributes of a British gentleman onto a 12-month-old child, seems to me optimistic and impractical," he wrote.
"Based on my background, engaging a quintessentially UK tutor from early childhood will will not automatically produce the goal they desire.
"I wasn't provided with such a tutor, and however I have been lucky enough to live several of the opportunities they aspire for their son."
He added: "The reality is, personal identity should not be imposed from the outside; it must be chosen, and it must originate internally."
Buying Britishness
Naturally, UK identity is something the CEO hopes can be educated – and commercialized.
"In my view the situation that the international society regards us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
