"A household residing in the northern part of London is looking for an extraordinary and experienced tutor to assist their youngest child on his early path to turning into an British gentleman."
When reading this advertisement, you might naturally skip the term "beginning" as mere a turn of phrase.
But, it might be the most important aspect of this distinctive employment listing, as it attempts to recruit a teacher for a one-year-old.
Hundreds of submissions have since been received since the anonymous family posted their call for the £180k-a-year tutor, who needs to be "someone very special".
Over the last few weeks, the post has received interest across the media, with several questioning why?
Progressive Approach
The CEO, chief executive of an education consultancy, which is supporting the family in their quest, stated that despite first skepticism, he found the plan "visionary", and "innovative".
When he consulted the family, he noted they understood the unusual nature of their demand, and how immature their son is.
However, they explained that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to get a tutor, as they had waited until their older child was five, and by that point "cultural influence had already set in".
But what did the family refer to by "cultural leaning"?
It's "everything", Adam answered. "The manner you eat, how you speak".
He said the firstborn had adopted "really subtle, unspoken signals" from the family, and had taken on their cultural ways. The family told Adam they hoped to prevent history to repeat itself with their younger child.
The plan: To bring in a English tutor, who should speak with Received Pronunciation, to shape the baby from the very start.
Osmotic Learning
"A great deal of the learning at the outset here is somewhat absorbed naturally," stated Adam.
It's by means of this osmosis that the family are expecting the child will acquire the English characteristics they aim to instil.
Adam said the tutor needed to be someone who went to "prestigious academies – the same kinds of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The tutor must be the appropriate candidate, they'll be doing things they may not realize they're doing, simply by nature," he added.
Money No Object
The family explained to him the chosen tutor should preferably also have knowledge of or interest in riding, skiing, the arts and instrumental training so as to inspire the child in a wide range of hobbies.
Additionally though, he explained the family hoped the tutor to enrol the child on a variety of classes so the child would be "pony-riding and picking up an musical instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's minds, guiding their son develop into a "British gentleman" will result in success and provide access.
"Taking into account the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's undoubtedly a social class indicator," he notes.
But, in spite of all this guidance in "English culture", might the child adopt alleged cultural leaning from the multicultural family he resides with regardless?
"Certainly", answered he. "The family understand this could fail, but they've merely embraced the attitude of, 'let's give it a go and we'll proceed as soon as we can', because the price of it is not relevant," he stated.
Overly Optimistic
There are some in the tutoring industry who express these concerns.
Another CEO, chief executive of Blue Education, who provides individual instructors, wrote that "the process of becoming bicultural, or actually, discovering oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not manufactured."
Peter noted that he had relocated from China to the Britain at the age of childhood, and had been brought up experiencing and practicing both cultures. He continued to study at a prestigious UK institution.
"The concept that an individual can serve as a embodiment of English culture, an individual who can in some way transfer the characteristics of a British gentleman onto a 12-month-old child, appears idealistic and impractical," he wrote.
"From my perspective, engaging a quintessentially British tutor from babyhood will not necessarily create the result they hope for.
"I wasn't provided with such a figure, and yet I have been fortunate enough to experience many of the situations they hope for their son."
He added: "The truth is, cultural identity should not be dictated from the external environment; it must be embraced, and it must be internally driven."
Purchasing UK Culture
Certainly, English culture is something the expert thinks can be educated – and marketed.
"In my view the situation that the international society views us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
