"A household based in the northern part of London seeks an remarkable and qualified instructor to assist their youngest child on his early path to becoming an British gentleman."
Looking at this post, you might readily overlook the wording "beginning" as just figurative language.
However, it might be the most significant aspect of this distinctive job advert, as it seeks to recruit a tutor for a one-year-old.
Many of submissions have now been sent in since the anonymous family advertised their search for the highly paid tutor, who must be "someone very special".
In recent few weeks, the post has gained interest in the media, with many asking why?
Progressive Approach
Adam Caller, head and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is helping the family in their search, stated that in spite of initial doubt, he viewed the idea "forward-looking", and "progressive".
When he consulted the family, he mentioned they understood the unconventional character of their requirement, and how young their son is.
But, they explained that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to get a tutor, as they had waited until their firstborn was five, and by that stage "cultural bias had already become established".
What exactly did the family indicate by "cultural leaning"?
It's "everything", he responded. "The way you eat, the manner you speak".
He stated the elder child had adopted "really subtle, unspoken signals" from the family, and had taken on their cultural ways. The family explained to Adam they did not want this pattern to recur with their new baby.
The strategy: To hire a UK tutor, who needs to speak with Received Pronunciation, to shape the baby from day one.
Natural Absorption
"Much of the learning at the outset here is rather absorbed naturally," said the expert.
It's by means of this osmosis that the family are aiming the child will adopt the English characteristics they aim to impart.
Adam noted the tutor needed to be someone who attended "prestigious academies – the same kinds of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The instructor simply needs to be the suitable individual, they'll be performing things they aren't even aware they're doing, just naturally," he commented.
Cost Not Relevant
The family told the expert the chosen tutor should ideally also have understanding of or enthusiasm in riding, winter sports, artistic pursuits and instrumental training so as to shape the child in a diverse set of passions.
Furthermore though, he said the family desired the tutor to enrol the child on a variety of classes so the child would be "pony-riding and learning an instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's perspective, helping their son develop into a "British gentleman" will result in success and create opportunities.
"For all the rights and wrongs of that, because it's undoubtedly a status symbol," he adds.
Yet, notwithstanding all this guidance in "English culture", would the child adopt so-called cultural bias from the multicultural family he is raised by in any case?
"Yes", said Adam. "The family realize this could fail, but they've just taken the perspective of, 'why not attempt it and we should start as quickly as we can', because the price of it is irrelevant," he explained.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
There are some in the tutoring industry who share those doubts.
Peter Cui, head and founder of Blue Education, who provides individual instructors, commented that "the process of becoming bicultural, or actually, forming one's identity, is something that must be experienced personally, not engineered."
Peter wrote that he had moved from China to the UK at the time of 7 years old, and had been raised understanding and living dual heritages. He continued to learn at the University of Cambridge.
"The notion that one individual can act as a embodiment of UK identity, a person who can possibly transplant the attributes of a UK sophisticate to a 12-month-old child, strikes me as optimistic and unfeasible," he stated.
"Based on my background, having a distinctly British tutor from infancy will will not necessarily create the goal they hope for.
"I never had that kind of mentor, and however I have been fortunate enough to live numerous of the situations they aspire for their son."
He stated: "The truth is, cultural identity should not be imposed from the outside; it must be chosen, and it must come from within."
Acquiring Englishness
Certainly, Britishness is something the CEO believes can be educated – and marketed.
"I think the fact that the international society regards us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
