"Parents located in North London is looking for an exceptional and experienced tutor to support their youngest child on his initial journey to growing into an British gentleman."
When reading this advertisement, you might easily miss the term "beginning" as mere figurative language.
But, it could be the most significant aspect of this unusual position posting, as it aims to recruit a tutor for a one-year-old.
Hundreds of responses have already been sent in since the unnamed family advertised their call for the £180,000 per year tutor, who has to be "someone very special".
Over the last few weeks, the advert has gained attention in the media, with many questioning why?
Progressive Approach
A tutoring expert, chief executive of an education consultancy, which is assisting the family in their hunt, stated that in spite of first scepticism, he viewed the idea "visionary", and "innovative".
When he consulted the family, he said they recognized the unconventional nature of their requirement, and how immature their son is.
But, they clarified that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had held off until their elder sibling was five, and by that age "cultural bias had already become established".
What exactly did the family mean by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "comprehensive", the expert replied. "The manner you eat, the way you speak".
He stated the older sibling had absorbed "very nuanced, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had taken on their cultural habits. The family explained to him they did not want the same situation to happen again with their younger child.
The plan: To bring in a English tutor, who must speak with Received Pronunciation, to guide the baby from the very start.
Osmotic Learning
"A great deal of the development at the beginning here is kind of acquired indirectly," stated the CEO.
It's by means of this subtle influence that the family are expecting the child will pick up the UK customs they wish to impart.
He said the tutor must be someone who went to "the right kinds of schools – similar types of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The tutor simply needs to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be doing things they don't even know they're doing, simply by nature," he added.
Money No Object
The family told him the chosen tutor should ideally also have knowledge of or interest in equestrian activities, skiing, artistic pursuits and instrumental training so as to influence the child in a broad spectrum of passions.
Additionally though, he said the family wanted the tutor to sign up the child on a range of lessons so the child would be "equestrian training and learning an musical instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's minds, guiding their son become a "British gentleman" will lead to success and create opportunities.
"Considering the rights and wrongs of that, because it's certainly a status symbol," he comments.
But, notwithstanding all this instruction in "Britishness", could the child pick up alleged cultural bias from the international family he resides with regardless?
"Yes", answered Adam. "The family realize this may not work, but they've just taken the attitude of, 'we should try and let's go as soon as we can', because the expense of it is not a concern," he stated.
Overly Optimistic
A number of in the tutoring industry who express similar reservations.
Peter Cui, head and founder of an educational organization, who provides personal educators, stated that "the process of becoming bicultural, or in fact, becoming oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not manufactured."
The expert wrote that he had moved from China to the UK at the period of 7 years old, and had been brought up knowing and embodying dual heritages. He continued to be educated at a prestigious UK institution.
"The idea that an individual can function as a living vessel of English culture, a person who can somehow impart the qualities of a UK sophisticate onto a 12-month-old child, appears naive and impractical," he wrote.
"From my perspective, engaging a distinctly UK tutor from infancy will not instantly achieve the result they hope for.
"I did not have such a figure, and nevertheless I have been lucky enough to live several of the opportunities they desire for their son."
He added: "The truth is, personal identity can not be dictated from the outside influences; it must be chosen, and it must originate internally."
Purchasing UK Culture
Certainly, UK identity is something the CEO believes can be taught – and sold.
"I believe the reality that the global community holds us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
