"A household located in North London seeks an remarkable and skilled educator to assist their most junior child on his early path to turning into an English gentleman."
When reading this advertisement, you might readily skip the phrase "beginning" as mere a turn of phrase.
But, it could be the crucial part of this unique employment listing, as it aims to find a tutor for a 12-month-old.
Hundreds of submissions have already been sent in since the anonymous family published their request for the £180k-a-year tutor, who must be "someone very special".
In recent few weeks, the advert has attracted notice across the media, with many asking why?
Progressive Approach
A tutoring expert, chief executive of an education consultancy, which is helping the family in their search, explained that despite initial skepticism, he viewed the idea "far sighted", and "innovative".
When he met the family, he said they understood the unconventional aspect of their request, and how young their son is.
Nevertheless, they stated that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to get a tutor, as they had held off until their firstborn was five, and by that stage "cultural conditioning had already become established".
What precisely does the family refer to by "cultural leaning"?
It's "everything", Adam responded. "The way you eat, how you speak".
He explained the elder child had picked up "very nuanced, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had assumed their cultural ways. The family explained to Adam they did not want this pattern to happen again with their new baby.
The strategy: To bring in a UK tutor, who must speak with Received Pronunciation, to shape the baby from day one.
Subtle Influence
"A lot of the learning at the start here is somewhat osmotic," said the CEO.
It's by means of this osmosis that the family are hoping the child will pick up the English characteristics they want to impart.
He explained the tutor needed to be somebody who studied at "the appropriate educational institutions – the same kinds of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The tutor simply needs to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be performing things they may not realize they're doing, simply by nature," he commented.
Expense Not a Factor
The family told him the chosen tutor should ideally also have knowledge of or interest in riding, alpine skiing, the arts and music so as to inspire the child in a broad spectrum of hobbies.
Additionally though, he stated the family hoped the tutor to sign up the child on a variety of classes so the child would be "pony-riding and picking up an musical instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's minds, assisting their son become a "UK sophisticate" will bring about success and create opportunities.
"Considering the pros and cons of that, because it's certainly a social class indicator," he notes.
Yet, despite all this guidance in "UK identity", would the child absorb what is termed cultural influence from the multicultural family he lives with anyway?
"Yes", answered the CEO. "The parents realize this may not work, but they've merely embraced the perspective of, 'why not attempt it and let's go as soon as we can', because the cost of it is irrelevant," he said.
Impractical
A number of in the education sector who express similar concerns.
Another CEO, chief executive of a tutoring service, who provides private tutors, wrote that "the journey of embracing two identities, or actually, discovering oneself, is something that must be lived into, not manufactured."
The expert noted that he had moved from the Far East to the Britain at the age of seven, and had been brought up knowing and living both cultures. He went on to study at Cambridge University.
"The concept that a single person can function as a embodiment of UK identity, a person who can possibly impart the qualities of a English gentleman to a 12-month-old child, appears idealistic and impractical," he stated.
"In my experience, engaging a quintessentially UK tutor from infancy will does not automatically create the goal they desire.
"I never had that kind of mentor, and yet I have been lucky enough to enjoy many of the situations they desire for their son."
He stated: "The fact is, self-identity cannot be imposed from the external environment; it must be selected, and it must originate internally."
Buying Britishness
Of course, English culture is something the CEO believes can be educated – and commercialized.
"I believe the situation that the global community holds us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
