"A family located in North London seeks an extraordinary and experienced tutor to guide their youngest child on his first steps to growing into an English gentleman."
Upon seeing this post, you might readily overlook the wording "beginning" as simple a turn of phrase.
Yet, it might be the most significant aspect of this distinctive employment listing, as it attempts to hire a mentor for a 12-month-old.
Many of submissions have since been submitted since the unidentified family published their call for the highly paid tutor, who has to be "someone very special".
Over the last few weeks, the advert has attracted notice throughout the press, with many questioning why?
Innovative Idea
A tutoring expert, CEO and founder of an education consultancy, which is supporting the family in their hunt, explained that despite initial scepticism, he considered the idea "visionary", and "advanced".
When he met the family, he mentioned they understood the unconventional aspect of their request, and how early in age their son is.
However, they clarified that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to get a tutor, as they had postponed until their elder sibling was five, and by that stage "cultural bias had already taken hold".
But what does the family mean by "cultural leaning"?
It's "all-encompassing", Adam answered. "How you eat, the way you speak".
He said the elder child had adopted "really subtle, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had taken on their cultural ways. The family told him they hoped to prevent this pattern to recur with their new baby.
The plan: To engage a UK tutor, who must speak with RP, to influence the baby from the very start.
Subtle Influence
"A lot of the learning at the beginning here is kind of absorbed naturally," stated Adam.
It's by means of this osmosis that the family are aiming the child will pick up the British traits they aim to impart.
The consultant noted the tutor had to be someone who went to "prestigious academies – the same kinds of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The educator must be the appropriate candidate, they'll be performing things they may not realize they're doing, simply by nature," he said.
Cost Not Relevant
The family informed Adam the successful candidate should ideally also have understanding of or passion in riding, winter sports, the arts and musical activities so as to inspire the child in a wide range of passions.
Furthermore though, he said the family hoped the tutor to register the child on a range of courses so the child would be "equestrian training and learning an instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's minds, guiding their son develop into a "British gentleman" will lead to accomplishment and open doors.
"For all the pros and cons of that, because it's definitely a class statement," he adds.
Yet, in spite of all this instruction in "Britishness", would the child absorb what is termed cultural bias from the globally influenced family he lives with regardless?
"Absolutely", said he. "The family know this might not succeed, but they've merely embraced the perspective of, 'we should try and we should start as early as we can', because the cost of it is irrelevant," he explained.
Impractical
Several in the tutoring industry who share those reservations.
Peter Cui, chief executive of a tutoring service, who also offer individual instructors, commented that "the journey of embracing two identities, or indeed, forming one's identity, is something that must be lived into, not designed."
He wrote that he had emigrated from the Far East to the United Kingdom at the time of seven, and had been raised knowing and practicing both cultures. He progressed to study at a prestigious UK institution.
"The concept that one individual can act as a living vessel of Britishness, someone who can possibly impart the attributes of a English gentleman to a one-year-old child, appears optimistic and impractical," he commented.
"In my experience, engaging a quintessentially UK tutor from babyhood will does not necessarily achieve the goal they want.
"I never had that kind of mentor, and nevertheless I have been lucky enough to experience numerous of the situations they hope for their son."
He stated: "The reality is, cultural identity can not be imposed from the outside influences; it must be chosen, and it must be internally driven."
Acquiring Englishness
Of course, UK identity is something the expert thinks can be instructed – and marketed.
"I think the situation that the global community regards us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
