"Parents based in North London is looking for an extraordinary and qualified instructor to guide their most junior child on his first steps to growing into an British gentleman."
When reading this advertisement, you might easily skip the phrase "beginning" as just an expression.
But, it could be the most important aspect of this unusual employment listing, as it seeks to recruit a mentor for a infant.
Hundreds of responses have now been submitted since the unnamed family posted their search for the £180k-a-year tutor, who needs to be "a uniquely qualified person".
Over the last few weeks, the advert has attracted interest across the media, with several questioning why?
Innovative Idea
A tutoring expert, chief executive of Tutors International, which is supporting the family in their hunt, explained that in spite of first doubt, he found the idea "forward-looking", and "innovative".
When he consulted the family, he said they appreciated the unconventional nature of their demand, and how early in age their son is.
But, they stated that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had waited until their elder sibling was five, and by that age "cultural conditioning had by then become established".
What precisely does the family indicate by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "comprehensive", the expert responded. "The manner you eat, how you speak".
He explained the older sibling had absorbed "very nuanced, body language" from the family, and had taken on their cultural norms. The family explained to the consultant they wished to avoid this pattern to happen again with their new baby.
The intention: To engage a English tutor, who must speak with RP, to shape the baby right from the beginning.
Osmotic Learning
"A lot of the education at the outset here is rather osmotic," stated the expert.
It's by means of this subtle influence that the family are expecting the child will adopt the English characteristics they aim to cultivate.
The consultant said the tutor must be somebody who attended "the appropriate educational institutions – the same kinds of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The educator just has to be the right kind of person, they'll be performing things they aren't even aware they're doing, just naturally," he said.
Cost Not Relevant
The family explained to the expert the chosen tutor should ideally also have familiarity of or interest in riding, winter sports, artistic pursuits and musical activities so as to influence the child in a diverse set of hobbies.
More than that though, he said the family desired the tutor to enrol the child on a range of lessons so the child would be "pony-riding and starting an tool by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's perspective, helping their son grow into a "UK sophisticate" will lead to success and open doors.
"Considering the pros and cons of that, because it's definitely a social class indicator," he adds.
However, despite all this instruction in "Britishness", would the child adopt what is termed cultural bias from the multicultural family he is raised by regardless?
"Absolutely", said the CEO. "The family realize this might not succeed, but they've simply adopted the attitude of, 'we should try and we'll proceed as early as we can', because the price of it is not relevant," he explained.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
Several in the private teaching field who have similar reservations.
Peter Cui, chief executive of an educational organization, who supplies private tutors, wrote that "the development of embracing two identities, or actually, forming one's identity, is something that must be lived into, not manufactured."
He noted that he had moved from the Far East to the United Kingdom at the period of 7 years old, and had been educated understanding and embodying both cultures. He progressed to study at Cambridge University.
"The concept that an individual can function as a living vessel of English culture, an individual who can somehow transplant the qualities of a British gentleman onto a one-year-old child, seems to me naive and impractical," he stated.
"In my experience, engaging a distinctly British tutor from infancy will will not instantly create the outcome they hope for.
"I did not have that kind of mentor, and yet I have been privileged enough to experience several of the opportunities they desire for their son."
He added: "The fact is, self-identity should not be dictated from the outside; it must be selected, and it must originate internally."
Acquiring Englishness
Naturally, UK identity is something the expert believes can be educated – and sold.
"In my view the reality that the international society views us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
