"A family residing in North London is looking for an exceptional and qualified instructor to assist their youngest child on his early path to becoming an British gentleman."
Looking at this advertisement, you might easily miss the wording "initial stages" as just an expression.
But, it may be the crucial element of this unusual employment listing, as it attempts to hire a teacher for a one-year-old.
Hundreds of applications have already been submitted since the anonymous family advertised their search for the £180k-a-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 asking why?
Progressive Approach
A tutoring expert, head and founder of Tutors International, which is assisting the family in their quest, said that in spite of initial scepticism, he viewed the plan "visionary", and "advanced".
When he consulted the family, he said they understood the unusual nature of their requirement, and how early in age their son is.
Nevertheless, they clarified that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had waited until their elder sibling was five, and by that stage "cultural bias had already become established".
What exactly does the family indicate by "cultural leaning"?
It's "everything", he replied. "The manner you eat, how you speak".
He explained the firstborn had absorbed "really subtle, unspoken signals" from the family, and had adopted their cultural norms. The family told the consultant they hoped to prevent the same situation to repeat itself with their younger child.
The strategy: To engage a UK tutor, who needs to speak with standard English accent, to influence the baby from the very start.
Subtle Influence
"A great deal of the learning at the start here is kind of acquired indirectly," said the CEO.
It's by means of this natural absorption that the family are hoping the child will pick up the British traits they want to instil.
The consultant said the tutor needed to be an individual who attended "prestigious academies – similar types of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The educator must be the suitable individual, they'll be doing things they may not realize they're doing, simply by nature," he added.
Money No Object
The family told the expert the selected educator should ideally also have familiarity of or interest in riding, winter sports, creative fields and musical activities so as to influence the child in a diverse set of passions.
More than that though, he explained the family wanted the tutor to sign up the child on a range of lessons so the child would be "equestrian training and picking up an musical instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's view, guiding their son grow into a "British gentleman" will bring about achievement and open doors.
"Taking into account the rights and wrongs of that, because it's definitely a social class indicator," he adds.
But, in spite of all this instruction in "UK identity", could the child adopt what is termed cultural influence from the international family he lives with regardless?
"Yes", replied the CEO. "The family understand this might not succeed, but they've just taken the view of, 'let's give it a go and we should start as early as we can', because the expense of it is irrelevant," he explained.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
Several in the tutoring industry who express those reservations.
Peter Cui, chief executive of a tutoring service, who also offer private tutors, stated that "the development of embracing two identities, or indeed, forming one's identity, is something that must be grown into, not engineered."
He noted that he had relocated from the Far East to the United Kingdom at the time of childhood, and had been raised knowing and practicing both cultures. He went on to be educated at the University of Cambridge.
"The idea that one individual can act as a representation of UK identity, a person who can possibly transplant the characteristics of a English gentleman upon a one-year-old child, seems to me idealistic and unrealistic," he wrote.
"From my perspective, having a quintessentially UK tutor from babyhood will will not instantly achieve the result they hope for.
"I wasn't provided with such a tutor, and nevertheless I have been fortunate enough to enjoy many of the situations they aspire for their son."
He continued: "The fact is, personal identity should not be dictated from the external environment; it must be selected, and it must come from within."
Buying Britishness
Of course, UK identity is something the expert believes can be educated – and commercialized.
"I think the situation that the global community holds us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
