"A family located in north London is looking for an extraordinary and skilled tutor to support their youngest child on his first steps to growing into an English gentleman."
When reading this post, you might easily overlook the term "beginning" as mere a turn of phrase.
But, it may be the most important part of this distinctive employment listing, as it aims to find a mentor for a 12-month-old.
Numerous of responses have now been sent in since the anonymous family posted their call for the £180,000 per year tutor, who must be "someone very special".
Over the last few weeks, the listing has attracted attention in the news, with numerous wondering why?
Innovative Idea
A tutoring expert, chief executive of an education consultancy, which is helping the family in their quest, explained that despite initial doubt, he found the concept "forward-looking", and "progressive".
When he spoke with the family, he noted they appreciated the unconventional character of their request, and how early in age their son is.
But, they explained that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to get a tutor, as they had postponed until their older child was five, and by that stage "cultural influence had already become established".
But what did the family refer to by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "all-encompassing", Adam answered. "The manner you eat, the manner you speak".
He said the elder child had picked up "very nuanced, body language" from the family, and had adopted their cultural norms. The family informed Adam they did not want the same situation to happen again with their new baby.
The intention: To engage a UK tutor, who needs to speak with standard English accent, to shape the baby from the very start.
Osmotic Learning
"Much of the education at the start here is rather osmotic," explained the expert.
It's by means of this subtle influence that the family are expecting the child will adopt the UK customs they wish to cultivate.
He said the tutor needed to be someone who went to "prestigious academies – similar types of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The tutor simply needs to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be doing things they aren't even aware they're doing, simply by nature," he said.
Expense Not a Factor
The family informed the expert the selected educator should preferably also have familiarity of or passion in equestrian activities, winter sports, the arts and instrumental training so as to inspire the child in a wide range of interests.
Additionally though, he said the family wanted the tutor to register the child on a range of lessons so the child would be "horseback riding and starting an instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's minds, assisting their son become a "UK sophisticate" will lead to success and open doors.
"Taking into account the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's undoubtedly a class statement," he adds.
However, notwithstanding all this instruction in "Britishness", would the child adopt what is termed cultural leaning from the international family he resides with in any case?
"Absolutely", said he. "They understand this could fail, but they've merely embraced the perspective of, 'let's give it a go and we'll proceed as quickly as we can', because the cost of it is irrelevant," he stated.
Overly Optimistic
Several in the private teaching field who express those doubts.
Peter Cui, chief executive of an educational organization, who supplies individual instructors, stated that "the development of adopting dual cultures, or in fact, 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 UK at the age of seven, and had been brought up experiencing and living both cultures. He went on to be educated at a prestigious UK institution.
"The idea that a single person can function as a representation of English culture, a person who can possibly transfer the qualities of a UK sophisticate onto a 12-month-old child, strikes me as naive and impractical," he stated.
"In my experience, having a typically British tutor from babyhood will will not necessarily achieve the goal they want.
"I did not have such a figure, and yet I have been fortunate enough to enjoy many of the situations they desire for their son."
He added: "The truth is, personal identity can not be imposed from the outside influences; it must be chosen, and it must originate internally."
Buying Britishness
Naturally, UK identity is something the CEO hopes can be educated – and marketed.
"I believe the reality that the world holds us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
