"Parents located in the northern part of London seeks an extraordinary and experienced tutor to assist their youngest child on his first steps to turning into an English gentleman."
When reading this post, you might readily miss the wording "beginning" as mere a turn of phrase.
But, it might be the crucial part of this distinctive job advert, as it aims to recruit a mentor for a infant.
Hundreds of responses have now been received since the anonymous family advertised their request for the £180k-a-year tutor, who needs to be "someone very special".
In recent few weeks, the listing has attracted interest across the press, with numerous questioning why?
Innovative Idea
A tutoring expert, CEO and founder of Tutors International, which is assisting the family in their hunt, said that notwithstanding early scepticism, he found the concept "far sighted", and "progressive".
When he consulted the family, he said they recognized the unusual character of their demand, and how early in age their son is.
But, they stated that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to get a tutor, as they had waited until their elder sibling was five, and by that age "cultural bias had already become established".
What exactly does the family mean by "cultural leaning"?
It's "comprehensive", he replied. "How you eat, how you speak".
He said the older sibling had absorbed "very nuanced, unspoken signals" from the family, and had assumed their cultural norms. The family explained to him they hoped to prevent this pattern to recur with their infant.
The intention: To bring in a English tutor, who should speak with Received Pronunciation, to influence the baby right from the beginning.
Osmotic Learning
"A lot of the development at the outset here is rather osmotic," explained the CEO.
It's by means of this natural absorption that the family are aiming the child will pick up the British traits they wish to impart.
Adam explained the tutor needed to be someone who attended "prestigious academies – the same kinds of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The educator must be the appropriate candidate, they'll be performing things they may not realize they're doing, simply by nature," he added.
Money No Object
The family told Adam the selected educator should preferably also have knowledge of or interest in equestrian activities, winter sports, the arts and instrumental training so as to inspire the child in a diverse set of interests.
Additionally though, he said the family wanted the tutor to enrol the child on a variety of classes so the child would be "equestrian training and picking up an musical instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's minds, helping their son develop into a "British gentleman" will bring about accomplishment and provide access.
"Taking into account the rights and wrongs of that, because it's undoubtedly a class statement," he notes.
But, notwithstanding all this instruction in "UK identity", might the child adopt alleged cultural influence from the multicultural family he lives with anyway?
"Absolutely", answered Adam. "They know this could fail, but they've merely embraced the attitude of, 'why not attempt it and we'll proceed as quickly as we can', because the price of it is irrelevant," he explained.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
A number of in the private teaching field who express similar doubts.
Another CEO, head and founder of a tutoring service, who supplies individual instructors, stated that "the journey of becoming bicultural, or indeed, discovering oneself, is something that must be lived into, not engineered."
He explained that he had moved from China to the UK at the time of childhood, and had been educated knowing and living both cultures. He progressed to be educated at a prestigious UK institution.
"The concept that a single person can act as a representation of English culture, someone who can in some way transfer the qualities of a UK sophisticate to a infant child, seems to me naive and unfeasible," he commented.
"From my perspective, employing a typically English tutor from babyhood will not automatically achieve the result they hope for.
"I never had such a figure, and however I have been lucky enough to enjoy several of the opportunities they desire for their son."
He added: "The reality is, personal identity cannot be imposed from the outside; it must be chosen, and it must come from within."
Buying Britishness
Certainly, UK identity is something the expert thinks can be educated – and commercialized.
"I believe the fact that the world holds us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
