"A household located in North London seeks an extraordinary and experienced tutor to support their most junior child on his initial journey to growing into an British gentleman."
Upon seeing this advertisement, you might easily miss the term "beginning" as mere figurative language.
However, it may be the most significant part of this unusual employment listing, as it seeks to recruit a tutor for a 12-month-old.
Hundreds of submissions have already been submitted since the anonymous family posted their request for the £180,000 per year tutor, who has to be "a uniquely qualified person".
Over the last few weeks, the post has attracted attention throughout the media, with several wondering why?
Progressive Approach
A tutoring expert, head and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is assisting the family in their search, said that in spite of first scepticism, he viewed the plan "far sighted", and "advanced".
When he spoke with the family, he said they recognized the unconventional nature of their request, and how young their son is.
However, they clarified that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to get a tutor, as they had waited until their older child was five, and by that age "cultural bias had already become established".
What precisely does the family indicate by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "comprehensive", Adam replied. "The manner you eat, how you speak".
He explained the elder child had picked up "extremely delicate, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had assumed their cultural habits. The family informed the consultant they hoped to prevent the same situation to happen again with their younger child.
The strategy: To bring in a English tutor, who must speak with RP, to guide the baby right from the beginning.
Natural Absorption
"Much of the learning at the beginning here is kind of absorbed naturally," stated the CEO.
It's via this natural absorption that the family are aiming the child will acquire the UK customs they aim to cultivate.
He explained the tutor must be somebody who went to "prestigious academies – similar types of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The instructor just has to be the suitable individual, they'll be performing things they may not realize they're doing, just naturally," he commented.
Cost Not Relevant
The family explained to the expert the successful candidate should ideally also have understanding of or interest in equestrian activities, skiing, creative fields and music so as to inspire the child in a broad spectrum of passions.
Furthermore though, he said the family hoped the tutor to sign up the child on a variety of classes so the child would be "horseback riding and picking up an musical instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's minds, guiding their son grow into a "UK sophisticate" will bring about success and create opportunities.
"For all the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's certainly a social class indicator," he adds.
But, despite all this guidance in "UK identity", might the child adopt alleged cultural leaning from the international family he lives with regardless?
"Certainly", replied Adam. "The family understand this could fail, but they've merely embraced the view of, 'we should try and we'll proceed as soon as we can', because the cost of it is not a concern," he explained.
Overly Optimistic
There are some in the private teaching field who express those reservations.
Peter Cui, chief executive of Blue Education, who supplies personal educators, commented that "the development of becoming bicultural, or in fact, becoming oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not manufactured."
He wrote that he had moved from Asia to the UK at the time of seven, and had been brought up experiencing and embodying two backgrounds. He progressed to study at a prestigious UK institution.
"The idea that one individual can function as a embodiment of UK identity, an individual who can in some way transplant the attributes of a UK sophisticate onto a one-year-old child, seems to me naive and impractical," he commented.
"In my experience, engaging a distinctly English tutor from early childhood will will not automatically produce the goal they want.
"I never had such a tutor, and nevertheless I have been lucky enough to enjoy many of the experiences they aspire for their son."
He continued: "The reality is, self-identity cannot be dictated from the external environment; it must be embraced, and it must originate internally."
Acquiring Englishness
Of course, English culture is something the CEO hopes can be educated – and commercialized.
"In my view the situation that the global community views us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
