"A family located in the northern part of London wants to find an extraordinary and skilled educator to guide their youngest child on his early path to turning into an English gentleman."
Upon seeing this listing, you might easily skip the term "beginning" as just figurative language.
But, it could be the most important element of this distinctive position posting, as it attempts to hire a mentor for a one-year-old.
Hundreds of applications have since been submitted since the unnamed family published their request for the £180k-a-year tutor, who must be "someone very special".
Over the last few weeks, the post has received notice across the media, with several questioning why?
Innovative Idea
Adam Caller, head and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is assisting the family in their quest, said that in spite of first doubt, he found the concept "forward-looking", and "innovative".
When he spoke with the family, he said they appreciated the atypical character of their requirement, and how immature their son is.
However, they explained that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had waited until their firstborn was five, and by that point "cultural influence had already taken hold".
But what does the family refer to by "cultural leaning"?
It's "everything", Adam replied. "The manner you eat, the manner you speak".
He stated the older sibling had picked up "extremely delicate, body language" from the family, and had assumed their cultural ways. The family explained to him they did not want the same situation to recur with their younger child.
The intention: To engage a UK tutor, who should speak with Received Pronunciation, to guide the baby from day one.
Natural Absorption
"A great deal of the development at the start here is somewhat absorbed naturally," explained the expert.
It's via this subtle influence that the family are expecting the child will acquire the English characteristics they want to cultivate.
Adam said the tutor must be an individual who went to "prestigious academies – similar types of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The tutor simply needs to be the right kind of person, they'll be doing things they may not realize they're doing, simply by nature," he commented.
Money No Object
The family told the expert the chosen tutor should ideally also have knowledge of or enthusiasm in riding, winter sports, creative fields and music so as to inspire the child in a broad spectrum of passions.
More than that though, he explained the family wanted the tutor to enrol the child on a range of classes 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, helping their son develop into a "English gentleman" will result in success and open doors.
"For all the rights and wrongs of that, because it's certainly a social class indicator," he notes.
Yet, notwithstanding all this instruction in "English culture", could the child adopt what is termed cultural bias from the multicultural family he is raised by anyway?
"Absolutely", said the CEO. "The family understand this could fail, but they've just taken the view of, 'why not attempt it and we should start as early as we can', because the cost of it is irrelevant," he stated.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
There are some in the private teaching field who have these doubts.
An education leader, CEO and founder of an educational organization, who provides private tutors, commented that "the development of adopting dual cultures, or actually, discovering oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not manufactured."
He noted that he had emigrated from China to the UK at the period of childhood, and had been educated understanding and practicing two backgrounds. He continued to learn at a prestigious UK institution.
"The concept that one individual can function as a embodiment of UK identity, an individual who can somehow transplant the qualities of a English gentleman upon a 12-month-old child, strikes me as idealistic and unfeasible," he commented.
"In my experience, engaging a distinctly British tutor from early childhood will not instantly produce the result they want.
"I did not have such a tutor, and nevertheless I have been fortunate enough to experience numerous of the opportunities they hope for their son."
He stated: "The reality is, personal identity should not be dictated from the outside influences; it must be chosen, and it must originate internally."
Purchasing UK Culture
Of course, Britishness is something the expert believes can be educated – and marketed.
"In my view the fact that the world holds us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
