"Parents residing in North London wants to find an exceptional and qualified tutor to guide their most junior child on his first steps to turning into an British gentleman."
Looking at this post, you might easily miss the wording "beginning" as just an expression.
However, it might be the most important aspect of this distinctive employment listing, as it aims to hire a tutor for a 12-month-old.
Hundreds of applications have now been received since the unnamed family posted their search for the £180k-a-year tutor, who has to be "an exceptional individual".
Over the last few weeks, the post has attracted interest throughout the press, with many asking why?
Forward-Thinking Method
Adam Caller, head and founder of an education consultancy, which is assisting the family in their hunt, explained that notwithstanding early doubt, he found the plan "visionary", and "innovative".
When he consulted the family, he noted they recognized the atypical aspect of their demand, and how early in age their son is.
But, they explained that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had postponed until their older child was five, and by that point "cultural influence had by then taken hold".
But what does the family indicate by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "comprehensive", he answered. "The way you eat, the way you speak".
He explained the older sibling had adopted "extremely delicate, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had assumed their cultural habits. The family told Adam they did not want this pattern to repeat itself with their new baby.
The strategy: To hire a English tutor, who must speak with RP, to influence the baby from day one.
Natural Absorption
"A great deal of the education at the beginning here is kind of absorbed naturally," stated the CEO.
It's by means of this natural absorption that the family are aiming the child will acquire the British traits they wish to cultivate.
The consultant said the tutor needed to be somebody who studied at "prestigious academies – similar types of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The instructor must be the appropriate candidate, they'll be performing things they may not realize they're doing, simply by nature," he said.
Cost Not Relevant
The family explained to him the selected educator should preferably also have knowledge of or passion in equestrian activities, alpine skiing, artistic pursuits and instrumental training so as to shape the child in a wide range of interests.
Furthermore though, he said the family wanted the tutor to register the child on a range of lessons so the child would be "pony-riding and starting an instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's minds, assisting their son develop into a "British gentleman" will bring about achievement and provide access.
"Taking into account the rights and wrongs of that, because it's definitely a status symbol," he adds.
However, despite all this instruction in "UK identity", could the child adopt alleged cultural influence from the globally influenced family he lives with anyway?
"Absolutely", replied Adam. "They understand this might not succeed, but they've simply adopted the attitude of, 'why not attempt it and we should start as early as we can', because the expense of it is not a concern," he explained.
Impractical
Several in the tutoring industry who share those reservations.
Another CEO, chief executive of an educational organization, who also offer personal educators, wrote that "the development of becoming bicultural, or actually, forming one's identity, is something that must be lived into, not designed."
The expert wrote that he had emigrated from Asia to the United Kingdom at the time of childhood, and had been brought up knowing and living two backgrounds. He progressed to learn at the University of Cambridge.
"The concept that one individual can act as a embodiment of Britishness, someone who can in some way transfer the qualities of a UK sophisticate onto a 12-month-old child, strikes me as idealistic and unfeasible," he wrote.
"Based on my background, having a quintessentially UK tutor from infancy will not necessarily create the result they want.
"I did not have such a tutor, and however I have been lucky enough to enjoy numerous of the experiences they desire for their son."
He stated: "The fact is, personal identity can not be dictated from the outside; it must be embraced, and it must come from within."
Buying Britishness
Of course, English culture is something the expert believes can be educated – and commercialized.
"I think the reality that the world holds us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating