"A household based in the northern part of London is looking for an extraordinary and qualified instructor to guide their most junior child on his first steps to becoming an English gentleman."
Looking at this post, you might easily skip the term "beginning" as mere an expression.
Yet, it could be the most important part of this distinctive job advert, as it attempts to find a tutor for a one-year-old.
Numerous of applications have since been received since the unnamed family advertised their search for the £180,000 per year tutor, who must be "a uniquely qualified person".
Over the last few weeks, the listing has attracted interest throughout the news, with many asking why?
Forward-Thinking Method
A tutoring expert, CEO and founder of Tutors International, which is assisting the family in their quest, stated that despite initial doubt, he found the concept "visionary", and "progressive".
When he spoke with the family, he noted they appreciated the atypical aspect of their request, and how early in age their son is.
But, 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 already taken hold".
What exactly does the family mean by "cultural bias"?
It's "all-encompassing", Adam answered. "How you eat, the manner you speak".
He explained the older sibling had picked up "extremely delicate, body language" from the family, and had assumed their cultural ways. The family informed Adam they hoped to prevent the same situation to happen again with their infant.
The strategy: To bring in a British tutor, who needs to speak with standard English accent, to guide the baby right from the beginning.
Subtle Influence
"A great deal of the education at the beginning here is rather absorbed naturally," explained the expert.
It's via this osmosis that the family are expecting the child will pick up the UK customs they aim to cultivate.
Adam explained the tutor must be an individual who attended "prestigious academies – the same kinds of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The instructor simply needs to be the suitable individual, they'll be doing things they aren't even aware they're doing, simply by nature," he added.
Cost Not Relevant
The family explained to him the selected educator should preferably also have understanding of or passion in horse riding, winter sports, creative fields and musical activities so as to influence the child in a diverse set of hobbies.
Furthermore though, he said the family desired the tutor to register the child on a selection of lessons so the child would be "horseback riding and picking up an instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's perspective, helping their son grow into a "English gentleman" will lead to achievement and create opportunities.
"Taking into account the pros and cons of that, because it's undoubtedly a class statement," he adds.
Yet, despite all this guidance in "UK identity", would the child absorb alleged cultural bias from the international family he lives with regardless?
"Certainly", replied Adam. "They know this could fail, but they've just taken the attitude of, 'let's give it a go and we should start as soon as we can', because the price of it is irrelevant," he said.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
Several in the tutoring industry who express these concerns.
Another CEO, chief executive of a tutoring service, who provides personal educators, wrote that "the process of adopting dual cultures, or actually, forming one's identity, is something that must be grown into, not manufactured."
The expert noted that he had moved from Asia to the United Kingdom at the age of childhood, and had been educated knowing and practicing both cultures. He progressed to study at a prestigious UK institution.
"The concept that a single person can act as a representation of Britishness, a person who can possibly transplant the attributes of a English gentleman upon a infant child, seems to me idealistic and impractical," he stated.
"In my experience, engaging a distinctly British tutor from babyhood will will not automatically create the outcome they desire.
"I never had that kind of mentor, and yet I have been privileged enough to live numerous of the opportunities they hope for their son."
He added: "The reality is, self-identity can not be imposed from the outside influences; it must be chosen, and it must be internally driven."
Buying Britishness
Of course, Britishness is something the CEO thinks can be educated – and commercialized.
"I believe the reality that the international society views us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
