"A household residing in the northern part of London seeks an extraordinary and experienced tutor to guide their smallest child on his early path to becoming an British gentleman."
When reading this post, you might naturally miss the term "initial stages" as simple a turn of phrase.
But, it may be the most significant aspect of this distinctive position posting, as it aims to hire a tutor for a infant.
Many of submissions have since been received since the anonymous family advertised their call for the £180,000 per year tutor, who needs to be "a uniquely qualified person".
During the past few weeks, the post has attracted notice throughout the media, with numerous questioning why?
Forward-Thinking Method
The CEO, head and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is supporting the family in their search, explained that despite initial scepticism, he considered the idea "far sighted", and "advanced".
When he consulted the family, he mentioned they understood the atypical aspect of their request, and how immature their son is.
But, they explained that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to get a tutor, as they had held off until their firstborn was five, and by that point "cultural influence had already become established".
But what did the family mean by "cultural leaning"?
It's "all-encompassing", he answered. "The way you eat, the manner you speak".
He stated the firstborn had picked up "extremely delicate, unspoken signals" from the family, and had assumed their cultural ways. The family informed him they wished to avoid the same situation to recur with their younger child.
The intention: To hire a English tutor, who needs to speak with RP, to shape the baby right from the beginning.
Subtle Influence
"A great deal of the learning at the start here is kind of osmotic," stated the expert.
It's through this osmosis that the family are hoping the child will adopt the British traits they aim to impart.
He explained the tutor had to be someone who studied at "the right kinds of schools – comparable categories of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The tutor just has to be the suitable individual, they'll be performing things they don't even know they're doing, simply by nature," he commented.
Cost Not Relevant
The family told him the successful candidate should ideally also have knowledge of or enthusiasm in riding, alpine skiing, the arts and instrumental training so as to shape the child in a broad spectrum of hobbies.
Furthermore though, he explained the family wanted the tutor to register the child on a variety of courses so the child would be "equestrian training and picking up an musical instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's view, assisting their son become a "British gentleman" will bring about achievement and open doors.
"For all the rights and wrongs of that, because it's undoubtedly a social class indicator," he adds.
Yet, despite all this guidance in "Britishness", would the child adopt so-called cultural bias from the multicultural family he resides with anyway?
"Certainly", answered he. "The family understand this could fail, but they've just taken the view of, 'we should try and we should start as soon as we can', because the expense of it is not relevant," he said.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
There are some in the private teaching field who share similar doubts.
Another CEO, chief executive of a tutoring service, who also offer personal educators, wrote that "the development of becoming bicultural, or actually, becoming oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not manufactured."
The expert explained that he had relocated from China to the United Kingdom at the period of seven, and had been raised understanding and practicing two backgrounds. He progressed to study at the University of Cambridge.
"The concept that one individual can function as a representation of UK identity, an individual who can possibly impart the attributes of a UK sophisticate to a one-year-old child, appears idealistic and unfeasible," he stated.
"In my experience, having a typically English tutor from early childhood will will not instantly achieve the goal they want.
"I did not have such a tutor, and nevertheless I have been lucky enough to enjoy numerous of the experiences they desire for their son."
He added: "The truth is, cultural identity cannot be forced from the outside; it must be selected, and it must be internally driven."
Buying Britishness
Certainly, UK identity is something the CEO thinks can be taught – and commercialized.
"I believe the reality that the international society views us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
