"A household based in North London seeks an extraordinary and qualified educator to support their smallest child on his first steps to turning into an British gentleman."
Looking at this advertisement, you might easily skip the term "beginning" as just figurative language.
However, it may be the most significant aspect of this unique employment listing, as it aims to hire a teacher for a one-year-old.
Hundreds of responses have now been sent in since the unnamed family posted their request for the highly paid tutor, who has to be "an exceptional individual".
Over the last few weeks, the post has gained notice across the news, with numerous questioning why?
Innovative Idea
A tutoring expert, CEO and founder of Tutors International, which is assisting the family in their search, stated that despite initial scepticism, he viewed the idea "far sighted", and "innovative".
When he consulted the family, he said they appreciated the unusual nature of their requirement, and how young their son is.
However, they clarified that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had held off until their elder sibling was five, and by that point "cultural influence had already set in".
But what does the family indicate by "cultural bias"?
It's "comprehensive", he answered. "How you eat, how you speak".
He explained the firstborn had absorbed "very nuanced, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had assumed their cultural ways. The family informed him they wished to avoid the same situation to repeat itself with their infant.
The plan: To hire a British tutor, who should speak with Received Pronunciation, to guide the baby from the very start.
Subtle Influence
"A great deal of the development at the outset here is kind of absorbed naturally," said the CEO.
It's via this osmosis that the family are hoping the child will acquire the UK customs they wish to instil.
The consultant noted the tutor must be somebody who went to "the right kinds of schools – the same kinds of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The educator just has to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be performing things they may not realize they're doing, just naturally," he commented.
Cost Not Relevant
The family told the expert the chosen tutor should ideally also have understanding of or passion in riding, alpine skiing, artistic pursuits and music so as to inspire the child in a diverse set of passions.
Additionally though, he explained the family desired the tutor to register the child on a range of classes so the child would be "pony-riding and starting an musical instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's minds, assisting their son develop into a "English gentleman" will lead to accomplishment and provide access.
"Considering the rights and wrongs of that, because it's certainly a social class indicator," he adds.
Yet, notwithstanding all this instruction in "UK identity", could the child absorb what is termed cultural bias from the multicultural family he is raised by in any case?
"Certainly", replied he. "The parents realize this might not succeed, but they've simply adopted the attitude of, 'we should try and we'll proceed as quickly as we can', because the price of it is not a concern," he explained.
Overly Optimistic
There are some in the private teaching field who share those doubts.
An education leader, CEO and founder of Blue Education, who also offer private tutors, commented that "the development of becoming bicultural, or indeed, discovering oneself, is something that must be grown into, not engineered."
The expert wrote that he had relocated from the Far East to the Britain at the time of childhood, and had been brought up knowing and living both cultures. He progressed to be educated at a prestigious UK institution.
"The notion that a single person can act as a living vessel of English culture, a person who can in some way impart the attributes of a UK sophisticate upon a infant child, strikes me as naive and unrealistic," he commented.
"From my perspective, engaging a typically UK tutor from infancy will does not automatically create the goal they desire.
"I wasn't provided with that kind of mentor, and yet I have been privileged enough to live many of the experiences they desire for their son."
He continued: "The fact is, self-identity should not be forced from the outside influences; it must be embraced, and it must come from within."
Acquiring Englishness
Of course, English culture is something Adam hopes can be educated – and commercialized.
"In my view the fact that the world views us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
