"Parents located in North London wants to find an remarkable and qualified instructor to assist their youngest child on his initial journey to turning into an British gentleman."
Upon seeing this post, you might easily miss the wording "initial stages" as mere figurative language.
However, it might be the crucial part of this unique job advert, as it aims to find a tutor for a 12-month-old.
Numerous of submissions have since been sent in since the anonymous family advertised their call for the £180,000 per year tutor, who has to be "a uniquely qualified person".
Over the last few weeks, the post has received attention in the media, with numerous asking why?
Forward-Thinking Method
Adam Caller, CEO and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is helping the family in their hunt, said that despite first scepticism, he considered the plan "forward-looking", and "progressive".
When he met the family, he said they recognized the unconventional character of their demand, and how young their son is.
But, they explained that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had postponed until their elder sibling was five, and by that stage "cultural conditioning had already become established".
But what did the family mean by "cultural leaning"?
It's "all-encompassing", the expert responded. "How you eat, how you speak".
He stated the firstborn had picked up "extremely delicate, unspoken signals" from the family, and had adopted their cultural norms. The family explained to the consultant they hoped to prevent history to recur with their new baby.
The plan: To hire a UK tutor, who needs to speak with Received Pronunciation, to shape the baby from day one.
Osmotic Learning
"A great deal of the education at the outset here is rather osmotic," explained Adam.
It's by means of this subtle influence that the family are hoping the child will adopt the English characteristics they aim to instil.
The consultant noted the tutor must be an individual who attended "the appropriate educational institutions – comparable categories of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The instructor must be the appropriate candidate, they'll be doing things they aren't even aware they're doing, just naturally," he added.
Cost Not Relevant
The family told the expert the successful candidate should ideally also have understanding of or interest in horse riding, winter sports, the arts and musical activities so as to shape the child in a broad spectrum of hobbies.
Furthermore though, he explained the family wanted the tutor to sign up the child on a selection of classes so the child would be "pony-riding and starting an instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's view, guiding their son become a "British gentleman" will lead to success and open doors.
"For all the pros and cons of that, because it's certainly a social class indicator," he adds.
But, in spite of all this guidance in "English culture", could the child adopt what is termed cultural leaning from the globally influenced family he lives with anyway?
"Certainly", replied the CEO. "They understand this could fail, but they've simply adopted the attitude of, 'we should try and we'll proceed as soon as we can', because the expense of it is not a concern," he explained.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
Several in the education sector who express these concerns.
Peter Cui, head and founder of Blue Education, who also offer individual instructors, commented that "the process of becoming bicultural, or actually, forming one's identity, is something that must be experienced personally, not manufactured."
He explained that he had moved from China to the United Kingdom at the time of childhood, and had been raised experiencing and living both cultures. He went on to study at Cambridge University.
"The notion that an individual can serve as a living vessel of English culture, someone who can somehow impart the qualities of a British gentleman upon a one-year-old child, seems to me idealistic and unfeasible," he stated.
"In my experience, having a quintessentially English tutor from early childhood will will not automatically create the goal they desire.
"I did not have such a figure, and however I have been fortunate enough to experience several of the situations they aspire for their son."
He continued: "The reality is, cultural identity can not be forced from the external environment; it must be selected, and it must originate internally."
Acquiring Englishness
Certainly, UK identity is something the expert hopes can be instructed – and sold.
"In my view the fact that the international society regards us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
