"A family based in north London is looking for an remarkable and qualified educator to guide their smallest child on his early path to becoming an English gentleman."
Upon seeing this listing, you might naturally miss the wording "beginning" as simple a turn of phrase.
However, it may be the most significant part of this unique job advert, as it aims to recruit a mentor for a 12-month-old.
Hundreds of submissions have since been submitted since the anonymous family advertised their search for the highly paid tutor, who needs to be "a uniquely qualified person".
During the past few weeks, the advert has gained interest in the media, with numerous questioning why?
Innovative Idea
Adam Caller, head and founder of an education consultancy, which is supporting the family in their hunt, explained that despite initial doubt, he found the idea "forward-looking", and "advanced".
When he met the family, he mentioned they recognized the unusual character of their demand, and how young their son is.
However, they explained that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to get a tutor, as they had waited until their older child was five, and by that stage "cultural bias had already set in".
What exactly did the family mean by "cultural leaning"?
It's "all-encompassing", the expert answered. "How you eat, the way you speak".
He explained the older sibling had absorbed "really subtle, unspoken signals" from the family, and had assumed their cultural habits. The family informed Adam they hoped to prevent history to happen again with their new baby.
The strategy: To bring in a British tutor, who should speak with Received Pronunciation, to influence the baby from the very start.
Natural Absorption
"A lot of the education at the beginning here is kind of acquired indirectly," stated Adam.
It's by means of this natural absorption that the family are hoping the child will adopt the British traits they wish to impart.
Adam noted the tutor had to be somebody who attended "prestigious academies – comparable categories of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The tutor must be the appropriate candidate, they'll be performing things they aren't even aware they're doing, simply by nature," he commented.
Expense Not a Factor
The family informed him the selected educator should ideally also have familiarity of or passion in riding, skiing, creative fields and music so as to inspire the child in a wide range of interests.
More than that though, he explained the family desired the tutor to enrol the child on a range of classes so the child would be "equestrian training and learning an instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's view, guiding their son develop into a "English gentleman" will lead to achievement and open doors.
"For all the rights and wrongs of that, because it's definitely a class statement," he notes.
Yet, despite all this instruction in "UK identity", would the child adopt what is termed cultural bias from the international family he lives with anyway?
"Certainly", said Adam. "The family understand this could fail, but they've merely embraced the view of, 'let's give it a go and let's go as soon as we can', because the expense of it is not a concern," he said.
Overly Optimistic
Several in the tutoring industry who express these reservations.
An education leader, chief executive of Blue Education, who supplies private tutors, commented that "the development of embracing two identities, or actually, becoming oneself, is something that must be grown into, not engineered."
He wrote that he had emigrated from Asia to the Britain at the age of 7 years old, and had been educated experiencing and practicing two backgrounds. He went on to learn at Cambridge University.
"The idea that a single person can serve as a representation of UK identity, an individual who can somehow transfer the attributes of a British gentleman upon a infant child, appears naive and unrealistic," he commented.
"In my experience, having a quintessentially English tutor from infancy will does not necessarily produce the result they want.
"I did not have such a tutor, and nevertheless I have been fortunate enough to enjoy several of the situations they aspire for their son."
He stated: "The truth is, cultural identity can not be forced from the external environment; it must be selected, and it must originate internally."
Acquiring Englishness
Of course, UK identity is something Adam believes can be taught – and commercialized.
"I think the reality that the world views us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
