"A family located in North London is looking for an exceptional and skilled instructor to support their smallest child on his first steps to becoming an English gentleman."
Upon seeing this post, you might naturally skip the phrase "beginning" as simple an expression.
However, it might be the crucial part of this unique job advert, as it attempts to recruit a teacher for a one-year-old.
Many of applications have now been received since the unnamed family published their call for the £180,000 per year tutor, who needs to be "someone very special".
During the past few weeks, the post has attracted notice across the press, with numerous questioning why?
Progressive Approach
A tutoring expert, CEO and founder of an education consultancy, which is assisting the family in their hunt, said that despite early scepticism, he found the plan "far sighted", and "advanced".
When he spoke with the family, he mentioned they understood the unusual nature of their requirement, and how young their son is.
But, they clarified that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to get a tutor, as they had held off until their older child was five, and by that stage "cultural influence had already set in".
What exactly did the family refer to by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "all-encompassing", he responded. "The manner you eat, the manner you speak".
He said the elder child had adopted "extremely delicate, unspoken signals" from the family, and had taken on their cultural ways. The family told him they wished to avoid history to repeat itself with their younger child.
The intention: To bring in a British tutor, who needs to speak with Received Pronunciation, to influence the baby from the very start.
Osmotic Learning
"A lot of the development at the start here is somewhat osmotic," explained the CEO.
It's through this natural absorption that the family are hoping the child will pick up the UK customs they aim to cultivate.
The consultant said the tutor needed to be an individual who studied at "prestigious academies – comparable categories of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The educator simply needs to be the right kind of person, they'll be carrying out things they may not realize they're doing, just naturally," he commented.
Money No Object
The family explained to the expert the chosen tutor should ideally also have knowledge of or enthusiasm in equestrian activities, winter sports, creative fields and instrumental training so as to influence the child in a diverse set of hobbies.
Additionally though, he stated the family wanted the tutor to enrol the child on a variety of classes so the child would be "horseback riding and starting an musical instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's minds, guiding their son become a "British gentleman" will bring about achievement and create opportunities.
"Taking into account the rights and wrongs of that, because it's undoubtedly a status symbol," he adds.
Yet, in spite of all this instruction in "Britishness", could the child adopt alleged cultural influence from the globally influenced family he resides with regardless?
"Yes", answered Adam. "The family understand this could fail, but they've merely embraced the view of, 'we should try and we should start as quickly as we can', because the expense of it is not relevant," he said.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
Several in the tutoring industry who have similar concerns.
Peter Cui, head and founder of an educational organization, who also offer personal educators, stated that "the development of embracing two identities, or indeed, forming one's identity, is something that must be grown into, not engineered."
Peter wrote that he had relocated from China to the UK at the age of 7 years old, and had been brought up knowing and embodying dual heritages. He progressed to learn at a prestigious UK institution.
"The idea that an individual can act as a representation of UK identity, a person who can in some way transfer the qualities of a British gentleman upon a 12-month-old child, seems to me naive and unrealistic," he stated.
"From my perspective, engaging a distinctly English tutor from infancy will does not necessarily produce the outcome they desire.
"I wasn't provided with such a figure, and yet I have been fortunate enough to enjoy numerous of the opportunities they aspire for their son."
He stated: "The fact is, self-identity can not be imposed from the outside; it must be embraced, and it must originate internally."
Acquiring Englishness
Certainly, English culture is something Adam believes can be taught – and commercialized.
"In my view the fact that the international society holds us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
