"A family located in the northern part of London is looking for an exceptional and skilled tutor to assist their most junior child on his initial journey to becoming an English gentleman."
Upon seeing this advertisement, you might readily skip the phrase "beginning" as mere figurative language.
Yet, it may be the most important element of this unusual employment listing, as it seeks to hire a teacher for a 12-month-old.
Hundreds of submissions have now been received since the anonymous family advertised their request for the highly paid tutor, who has to be "a uniquely qualified person".
Over the last few weeks, the listing has received attention in the news, with numerous wondering why?
Progressive Approach
The CEO, head and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is helping the family in their search, explained that in spite of early doubt, he found the plan "far sighted", and "progressive".
When he spoke with the family, he mentioned they understood the unusual nature of their request, and how young their son is.
But, they clarified that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had postponed until their firstborn was five, and by that point "cultural bias had already become established".
What exactly does the family mean by "cultural leaning"?
It's "comprehensive", Adam replied. "The way you eat, the manner you speak".
He explained the firstborn had absorbed "very nuanced, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had adopted their cultural ways. The family told him they hoped to prevent the same situation to recur with their younger child.
The intention: To hire a British tutor, who needs to speak with Received Pronunciation, to guide the baby from day one.
Osmotic Learning
"A lot of the development at the start here is rather acquired indirectly," explained the CEO.
It's by means of this osmosis that the family are expecting the child will adopt the British traits they aim to impart.
Adam noted the tutor must be someone who went to "the right kinds of schools – similar types of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The instructor simply needs to be the suitable individual, they'll be doing things they may not realize they're doing, simply by nature," he commented.
Expense Not a Factor
The family informed the expert the selected educator should preferably also have knowledge of or enthusiasm in horse riding, winter sports, artistic pursuits and instrumental training so as to inspire the child in a broad spectrum of hobbies.
Furthermore though, he stated the family desired the tutor to sign up the child on a variety of courses so the child would be "pony-riding and starting an musical instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's view, assisting their son become a "British gentleman" will bring about achievement and open doors.
"For all the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's undoubtedly a social class indicator," he notes.
Yet, in spite of all this guidance in "English culture", could the child adopt so-called cultural leaning from the globally influenced family he lives with regardless?
"Certainly", replied the CEO. "They understand this might not succeed, but they've simply adopted the view of, 'let's give it a go and we should start as quickly as we can', because the cost of it is not relevant," he said.
Impractical
Several in the education sector who share those concerns.
An education leader, CEO and founder of a tutoring service, who provides personal educators, commented that "the process of adopting dual cultures, or in fact, forming one's identity, is something that must be grown into, not engineered."
He wrote that he had moved from China to the United Kingdom at the age of 7 years old, and had been educated knowing and embodying both cultures. He went on to be educated at Cambridge University.
"The idea that a single person can function as a embodiment of UK identity, an individual who can in some way impart the attributes of a English gentleman upon a infant child, strikes me as optimistic and impractical," he wrote.
"From my perspective, having a distinctly English tutor from early childhood will does not automatically create the result they desire.
"I did not have such a tutor, and however I have been privileged enough to experience numerous of the opportunities they desire for their son."
He added: "The fact is, cultural identity can not be dictated from the outside influences; it must be embraced, and it must originate internally."
Buying Britishness
Of course, UK identity is something the CEO believes can be educated – and marketed.
"I believe the fact that the international society holds us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
