"A household residing in North London is looking for an extraordinary and skilled educator to support their youngest child on his early path to turning into an British gentleman."
Looking at this post, you might naturally skip the phrase "beginning" as simple an expression.
However, it may be the most significant element of this unusual position posting, as it attempts to recruit a teacher for a one-year-old.
Hundreds of applications have since been submitted since the unnamed family posted their call for the highly paid tutor, who needs to be "a uniquely qualified person".
Over the last few weeks, the advert has received interest across the press, with many questioning why?
Innovative Idea
The CEO, chief executive of a global tutoring firm, which is helping the family in their search, said that notwithstanding initial doubt, he considered the plan "far sighted", and "advanced".
When he met the family, he noted they understood the unconventional nature of their request, and how young their son is.
However, they explained that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had held off until their elder sibling was five, and by that stage "cultural conditioning had already set in".
What precisely does the family refer to by "cultural bias"?
It's "comprehensive", Adam responded. "The manner you eat, how you speak".
He said the firstborn had absorbed "very nuanced, unspoken signals" from the family, and had assumed their cultural ways. The family told the consultant they did not want the same situation to repeat itself with their infant.
The strategy: To bring in a English tutor, who needs to speak with standard English accent, to guide the baby from day one.
Subtle Influence
"A great deal of the education at the beginning here is somewhat acquired indirectly," said the expert.
It's through this natural absorption that the family are aiming the child will adopt the UK customs they want to instil.
He said the tutor needed to be somebody who attended "prestigious academies – similar types of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The tutor simply needs to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be performing things they may not realize they're doing, just naturally," he commented.
Cost Not Relevant
The family informed the expert the selected educator should ideally also have familiarity of or interest in riding, winter sports, the arts and instrumental training so as to influence the child in a diverse set of interests.
Furthermore though, he explained the family hoped the tutor to register the child on a variety of courses so the child would be "equestrian training and learning an tool by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's view, helping their son develop into a "UK sophisticate" will result in achievement and create opportunities.
"Taking into account the rights and wrongs of that, because it's definitely a status symbol," he notes.
However, in spite of all this instruction in "Britishness", would the child absorb so-called cultural bias from the globally influenced family he lives with anyway?
"Absolutely", answered Adam. "The family realize this may not work, but they've simply adopted the attitude of, 'why not attempt it and we'll proceed as early as we can', because the price of it is not relevant," he said.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
There are some in the private teaching field who express these concerns.
An education leader, chief executive of an educational organization, who provides individual instructors, stated that "the development of becoming bicultural, or in fact, forming one's identity, is something that must be grown into, not manufactured."
Peter wrote that he had moved from Asia to the United Kingdom at the age of 7 years old, and had been educated experiencing and living two backgrounds. He continued to study at a prestigious UK institution.
"The notion that a single person can function as a living vessel of English culture, a person who can in some way impart the attributes of a English gentleman to a one-year-old child, strikes me as optimistic and impractical," he wrote.
"In my experience, having a distinctly UK tutor from babyhood will will not instantly produce the outcome they hope for.
"I wasn't provided with that kind of mentor, and nevertheless I have been fortunate enough to experience several of the experiences they aspire for their son."
He stated: "The fact is, cultural identity cannot be imposed from the outside influences; it must be chosen, and it must come from within."
Buying Britishness
Certainly, English culture is something the expert believes can be educated – and marketed.
"I think the fact that the global community regards us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
