"A family based in North London seeks an extraordinary and qualified educator to support their youngest child on his first steps to growing into an English gentleman."
When reading this post, you might readily overlook the term "beginning" as simple figurative language.
However, it could be the crucial element of this distinctive employment listing, as it aims to hire a tutor for a infant.
Many of submissions have now been sent in since the unidentified family posted their search for the £180k-a-year tutor, who must be "an exceptional individual".
Over the last few weeks, the post has received notice in the media, with many wondering why?
Progressive Approach
A tutoring expert, chief executive of a global tutoring firm, which is supporting the family in their hunt, stated that despite initial skepticism, he viewed the plan "far sighted", and "progressive".
When he spoke with the family, he noted they appreciated the unconventional aspect of their requirement, and how young their son is.
However, they stated that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had waited until their older child was five, and by that age "cultural conditioning had already set in".
What precisely does the family refer to by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "all-encompassing", Adam replied. "How you eat, how you speak".
He stated the older sibling had picked up "very nuanced, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had adopted their cultural norms. The family informed Adam they did not want this pattern to repeat itself with their new baby.
The plan: To hire a UK tutor, who needs to speak with standard English accent, to influence the baby from day one.
Osmotic Learning
"A great deal of the education at the start here is somewhat acquired indirectly," said the expert.
It's by means of this natural absorption that the family are aiming the child will acquire the English characteristics they aim to instil.
The consultant noted the tutor had to be somebody who went to "the right kinds of schools – similar types of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The educator simply needs to be the right kind of person, they'll be doing things they aren't even aware they're doing, effortlessly," he commented.
Money No Object
The family informed the expert the chosen tutor should preferably also have knowledge of or passion in riding, winter sports, creative fields and musical activities so as to shape the child in a broad spectrum of interests.
Furthermore though, he said the family hoped the tutor to register the child on a selection of courses so the child would be "equestrian training and picking up an musical instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's perspective, helping their son become a "UK sophisticate" will result in accomplishment and provide access.
"Considering the rights and wrongs of that, because it's certainly a social class indicator," he notes.
However, in spite of all this tutelage in "English culture", could the child absorb what is termed cultural bias from the international family he is raised by anyway?
"Absolutely", answered Adam. "The family know this might not succeed, but they've merely embraced the perspective of, 'why not attempt it and we should start as early as we can', because the price of it is not a concern," he said.
Overly Optimistic
There are some in the tutoring industry who have these reservations.
Peter Cui, chief executive of Blue Education, who also offer personal educators, stated that "the process of becoming bicultural, or in fact, forming one's identity, is something that must be lived into, not designed."
He noted that he had emigrated from China to the United Kingdom at the age of seven, and had been brought up knowing and living dual heritages. He continued to study at the University of Cambridge.
"The idea that one individual can function as a living vessel of Britishness, someone who can in some way transfer the attributes of a British gentleman upon a one-year-old child, strikes me as naive and unfeasible," he wrote.
"From my perspective, employing a typically English tutor from infancy will will not necessarily produce the outcome they desire.
"I did not have that kind of mentor, and however I have been lucky enough to enjoy many of the situations they hope for their son."
He added: "The reality is, personal identity cannot be dictated from the outside; it must be embraced, and it must originate internally."
Acquiring Englishness
Naturally, English culture is something the CEO hopes can be taught – and marketed.
"I think the reality that the international society regards us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
