"A family residing in north London is looking for an extraordinary and skilled tutor to assist their youngest child on his first steps to growing into an English gentleman."
Upon seeing this post, you might easily overlook the phrase "beginning" as mere figurative language.
But, it might be the crucial aspect of this unusual job advert, as it seeks to find a mentor for a one-year-old.
Numerous of submissions have now been received since the anonymous family published their search for the £180,000 per year tutor, who has to be "an exceptional individual".
During the past few weeks, the listing has received notice across the press, with several questioning why?
Innovative Idea
A tutoring expert, chief executive of a global tutoring firm, which is assisting the family in their search, explained that in spite of early doubt, he viewed the idea "far sighted", and "progressive".
When he consulted the family, he mentioned they recognized the unusual nature of their request, and how young their son is.
Nevertheless, they explained that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had held off until their older child was five, and by that point "cultural bias had already taken hold".
But what does the family indicate by "cultural leaning"?
It's "all-encompassing", the expert answered. "How you eat, how you speak".
He explained the elder child had absorbed "extremely delicate, unspoken signals" from the family, and had assumed their cultural habits. The family explained to him they did not want the same situation to happen again with their infant.
The plan: To hire a UK tutor, who needs to speak with Received Pronunciation, to shape the baby right from the beginning.
Osmotic Learning
"Much of the development at the outset here is rather absorbed naturally," said the expert.
It's via this osmosis that the family are hoping the child will pick up the UK customs they wish to impart.
Adam said the tutor needed to be someone who studied at "the appropriate educational institutions – the same kinds of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The educator simply needs to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be performing things they may not realize they're doing, just naturally," he commented.
Money No Object
The family informed him the selected educator should ideally also have familiarity of or enthusiasm in riding, winter sports, the arts and instrumental training so as to inspire the child in a wide range of passions.
Additionally though, he said the family hoped the tutor to enrol the child on a range of lessons so the child would be "horseback riding and learning an musical instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's view, helping their son develop into a "English gentleman" will result in accomplishment and open doors.
"Taking into account the rights and wrongs of that, because it's undoubtedly a status symbol," he adds.
Yet, in spite of all this guidance in "English culture", could the child adopt what is termed cultural leaning from the multicultural family he is raised by in any case?
"Certainly", said Adam. "The family understand this might not succeed, but they've simply adopted the attitude of, 'we should try and we'll proceed as early as we can', because the expense of it is not a concern," he said.
Overly Optimistic
There are some in the private teaching field who share these reservations.
An education leader, chief executive of Blue Education, who supplies personal educators, stated that "the journey of becoming bicultural, or indeed, becoming oneself, is something that must be grown into, not engineered."
The expert explained that he had emigrated from China to the United Kingdom at the age of seven, and had been educated understanding and embodying two backgrounds. He went on to study at a prestigious UK institution.
"The idea that one individual can act as a representation of English culture, a person who can in some way impart the characteristics of a English gentleman onto a one-year-old child, strikes me as naive and impractical," he commented.
"In my experience, engaging a typically UK tutor from babyhood will does not instantly achieve the goal they want.
"I wasn't provided with such a figure, and nevertheless I have been privileged enough to enjoy several of the opportunities they desire for their son."
He stated: "The fact is, personal identity can not be imposed from the outside; it must be selected, and it must originate internally."
Purchasing UK Culture
Naturally, Britishness is something the CEO believes can be instructed – and commercialized.
"In my view the fact that the international society regards us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
