"A household residing in north London wants to find an remarkable and experienced instructor to assist their most junior child on his early path to growing into an English gentleman."
Looking at this advertisement, you might easily overlook the wording "beginning" as mere figurative language.
But, it could be the crucial aspect of this distinctive employment listing, as it aims to hire a teacher for a 12-month-old.
Hundreds of responses have now been submitted since the unnamed family published their search for the £180k-a-year tutor, who has to be "an exceptional individual".
Over the last few weeks, the listing has received notice across the news, with numerous wondering why?
Innovative Idea
A tutoring expert, CEO and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is supporting the family in their search, said that in spite of first skepticism, he considered the idea "visionary", and "progressive".
When he consulted the family, he mentioned they understood the atypical character of their request, and how young their son is.
Nevertheless, they clarified that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to get a tutor, as they had waited until their firstborn was five, and by that point "cultural conditioning had by then become established".
What precisely did the family mean by "cultural bias"?
It's "all-encompassing", the expert responded. "The manner you eat, how you speak".
He explained the firstborn had picked up "very nuanced, unspoken signals" from the family, and had taken on their cultural habits. The family told the consultant they did not want the same situation to happen again with their new baby.
The strategy: To hire a UK tutor, who must speak with Received Pronunciation, to shape the baby right from the beginning.
Subtle Influence
"A lot of the development at the start here is somewhat absorbed naturally," stated the expert.
It's through this subtle influence that the family are hoping the child will pick up the British traits they wish to cultivate.
Adam noted the tutor had to be somebody who attended "the appropriate educational institutions – similar types of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The educator must be the appropriate candidate, they'll be performing things they may not realize they're doing, effortlessly," he added.
Money No Object
The family informed the expert the successful candidate should ideally also have understanding of or interest in horse riding, skiing, artistic pursuits and musical activities so as to influence the child in a broad spectrum of interests.
Furthermore though, he explained the family hoped the tutor to sign up the child on a range of classes so the child would be "horseback riding and learning an instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's perspective, helping their son develop into a "British gentleman" will result in achievement and create opportunities.
"Considering the pros and cons of that, because it's definitely a status symbol," he adds.
However, despite all this instruction in "English culture", would the child absorb so-called cultural leaning from the international family he lives with regardless?
"Yes", replied the CEO. "The parents realize this could fail, but they've just taken the view of, 'let's give it a go and let's go as early as we can', because the expense of it is irrelevant," he said.
Impractical
There are some in the private teaching field who express those concerns.
Peter Cui, chief executive of a tutoring service, who supplies private tutors, commented that "the process of embracing two identities, or indeed, forming one's identity, is something that must be lived into, not engineered."
Peter wrote that he had emigrated from the Far East to the United Kingdom at the age of seven, and had been raised experiencing and living two backgrounds. He continued to study at a prestigious UK institution.
"The notion that one individual can function as a embodiment of English culture, a person who can somehow transfer the attributes of a British gentleman upon a infant child, strikes me as idealistic and unfeasible," he stated.
"From my perspective, employing a typically British tutor from early childhood will will not automatically produce the outcome they hope for.
"I wasn't provided with that kind of mentor, and yet I have been fortunate enough to experience several of the experiences they desire for their son."
He stated: "The reality is, cultural identity cannot be forced from the external environment; it must be selected, and it must come from within."
Acquiring Englishness
Of course, Britishness is something the expert hopes can be educated – and sold.
"In my view the fact that the international society holds us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
