"A household residing in north London wants to find an extraordinary and skilled instructor to guide their smallest child on his early path to turning into an English gentleman."
Looking at this listing, you might readily overlook the term "beginning" as mere figurative language.
However, it may be the most significant part of this distinctive position posting, as it attempts to recruit a tutor for a infant.
Numerous of submissions have now been received since the unidentified family posted their request for the £180k-a-year tutor, who has to be "an exceptional individual".
During the past few weeks, the post has attracted interest across the media, with numerous questioning why?
Innovative Idea
The CEO, head and founder of Tutors International, which is assisting the family in their quest, said that despite initial doubt, he considered the concept "far sighted", and "innovative".
When he spoke with the family, he noted they appreciated the atypical nature of their requirement, and how early in age their son is.
Nevertheless, they explained that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to get a tutor, as they had waited until their firstborn was five, and by that point "cultural influence had already taken hold".
What exactly does the family indicate by "cultural leaning"?
It's "all-encompassing", he answered. "The way you eat, the manner you speak".
He said the elder child had absorbed "extremely delicate, body language" from the family, and had assumed their cultural habits. The family explained to him they wished to avoid this pattern to recur with their younger child.
The intention: To hire a English tutor, who must speak with standard English accent, to influence the baby from day one.
Natural Absorption
"Much of the development at the outset here is somewhat osmotic," stated the CEO.
It's via this subtle influence that the family are aiming the child will pick up the UK customs they wish to instil.
Adam noted the tutor had to be someone who went to "the appropriate educational institutions – comparable categories of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The educator simply needs to be the right kind of person, they'll be performing things they may not realize they're doing, simply by nature," he said.
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 diverse set of interests.
More than that though, he said the family desired the tutor to sign up the child on a range of courses so the child would be "pony-riding and starting an musical instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's perspective, guiding their son develop into a "UK sophisticate" will bring about achievement and provide access.
"Taking into account the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's undoubtedly a social class indicator," he notes.
Yet, despite all this guidance in "UK identity", might the child pick up alleged cultural leaning from the globally influenced family he resides with anyway?
"Absolutely", answered he. "The family know this may not work, but they've merely embraced the view of, 'let's give it a go and we'll proceed as early as we can', because the expense of it is not relevant," he stated.
Impractical
Several in the private teaching field who have similar concerns.
Peter Cui, CEO and founder of a tutoring service, who provides personal educators, commented that "the journey of becoming bicultural, or indeed, discovering oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not designed."
The expert explained that he had moved from the Far East to the UK at the time of childhood, and had been educated understanding and embodying two backgrounds. He went on to study at Cambridge University.
"The notion that a single person can act as a living vessel of English culture, someone who can possibly transfer the attributes of a English gentleman onto a one-year-old child, strikes me as naive and unfeasible," he wrote.
"From my perspective, engaging a quintessentially British tutor from infancy will not automatically achieve the goal they hope for.
"I wasn't provided with such a tutor, and nevertheless I have been lucky enough to enjoy several of the situations they hope for their son."
He added: "The fact is, personal identity cannot be forced from the outside influences; it must be chosen, and it must be internally driven."
Buying Britishness
Naturally, Britishness is something the CEO hopes can be instructed – and commercialized.
"In my view the reality that the world regards us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
