"A family based in the northern part of London seeks an extraordinary and qualified tutor to assist their smallest child on his early path to growing into an English gentleman."
Looking at this advertisement, you might easily miss the phrase "beginning" as simple figurative language.
Yet, it may be the most significant aspect of this distinctive position posting, as it aims to hire a mentor for a 12-month-old.
Many of responses have already been submitted since the anonymous family published their search for the £180k-a-year tutor, who must be "someone very special".
During the past few weeks, the post has gained attention across the media, with numerous questioning why?
Innovative Idea
A tutoring expert, CEO and founder of Tutors International, which is helping the family in their hunt, said that in spite of initial doubt, he viewed the idea "forward-looking", and "innovative".
When he consulted the family, he mentioned they recognized the unconventional aspect of their demand, and how early in age their son is.
However, they clarified 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 age "cultural bias had by then become established".
What exactly does the family refer to by "cultural leaning"?
It's "everything", Adam answered. "How you eat, the way you speak".
He stated the elder child had absorbed "very nuanced, body language" from the family, and had adopted their cultural norms. The family told Adam they hoped to prevent the same situation to happen again with their infant.
The strategy: To hire a English tutor, who needs to speak with standard English accent, to guide the baby from the very start.
Natural Absorption
"Much of the development at the start here is somewhat absorbed naturally," said the expert.
It's through this osmosis that the family are aiming the child will pick up the British traits they wish to cultivate.
The consultant said the tutor needed to be somebody who studied at "prestigious academies – comparable categories of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The tutor simply needs to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be carrying out things they aren't even aware they're doing, effortlessly," he commented.
Cost Not Relevant
The family informed him the successful candidate should ideally also have knowledge of or passion in riding, skiing, the arts and musical activities so as to inspire the child in a wide range of passions.
Additionally though, he said the family wanted the tutor to sign up the child on a selection of courses so the child would be "equestrian training and starting an musical instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's perspective, assisting their son grow into a "UK sophisticate" will lead to success and create opportunities.
"Considering the rights and wrongs of that, because it's undoubtedly a social class indicator," he comments.
However, despite all this guidance in "Britishness", would the child adopt alleged cultural leaning from the globally influenced family he is raised by anyway?
"Absolutely", answered the CEO. "The parents know this might not succeed, but they've just taken the attitude of, 'let's give it a go and we'll proceed as early as we can', because the price of it is not a concern," he said.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
A number of in the tutoring industry who have these concerns.
Another CEO, chief executive of a tutoring service, who provides private tutors, stated that "the journey of embracing two identities, or in fact, discovering oneself, is something that must be lived into, not designed."
The expert noted that he had emigrated from China to the Britain at the time of seven, and had been educated knowing and living both cultures. He progressed to be educated at the University of Cambridge.
"The idea that a single person can function as a living vessel of English culture, an individual who can possibly transplant the characteristics of a English gentleman onto a one-year-old child, strikes me as naive and impractical," he commented.
"From my perspective, engaging a distinctly UK tutor from early childhood will will not necessarily produce the result they hope for.
"I wasn't provided with such a tutor, and however I have been lucky enough to live numerous of the opportunities they aspire for their son."
He stated: "The fact is, personal identity can not be dictated from the outside influences; it must be selected, and it must be internally driven."
Purchasing UK Culture
Of course, Britishness is something the CEO believes can be instructed – and marketed.
"I think the reality that the international society holds us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
