"A family residing in North London wants to find an remarkable and skilled educator to assist their smallest child on his initial journey to turning into an English gentleman."
When reading this advertisement, you might easily miss the wording "beginning" as simple a turn of phrase.
However, it may be the most important element of this distinctive job advert, as it attempts to recruit a tutor for a 12-month-old.
Hundreds of applications have now been sent in since the anonymous family posted their search for the highly paid tutor, who has to be "a uniquely qualified person".
During the past few weeks, the post has gained attention across the media, with numerous wondering why?
Forward-Thinking Method
The CEO, CEO and founder of an education consultancy, which is assisting the family in their hunt, stated that in spite of first scepticism, he considered the concept "forward-looking", and "innovative".
When he spoke with the family, he mentioned they understood the unconventional aspect of their requirement, and how immature their son is.
But, they stated that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to get a tutor, as they had postponed until their firstborn was five, and by that age "cultural conditioning had by then taken hold".
What precisely did the family refer to by "cultural leaning"?
It's "everything", the expert responded. "The way you eat, the manner you speak".
He explained the older sibling had picked up "really subtle, unspoken signals" from the family, and had taken on their cultural ways. The family informed Adam they hoped to prevent history to repeat itself with their younger child.
The strategy: To bring in a British tutor, who must speak with Received Pronunciation, to influence the baby from day one.
Subtle Influence
"Much of the development at the start here is kind of absorbed naturally," said Adam.
It's via this subtle influence that the family are expecting the child will pick up the English characteristics they wish to cultivate.
He explained the tutor needed to be somebody who attended "prestigious academies – the same kinds of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The educator simply needs to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be carrying out things they may not realize they're doing, simply by nature," he said.
Expense Not a Factor
The family explained to the expert the chosen tutor should ideally also have familiarity of or interest in horse riding, alpine skiing, creative fields and musical activities so as to shape the child in a broad spectrum of interests.
Furthermore though, he explained the family desired the tutor to sign up the child on a selection of lessons so the child would be "horseback riding and picking up an musical instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's perspective, assisting their son become a "UK sophisticate" will bring about success and open doors.
"For all the pros and cons of that, because it's definitely a social class indicator," he adds.
However, in spite of all this tutelage in "English culture", might the child adopt alleged cultural leaning from the international family he lives with in any case?
"Absolutely", answered he. "The family know this could fail, but they've simply adopted the perspective of, 'why not attempt it and we should start as soon as we can', because the cost of it is not a concern," he explained.
Impractical
There are some in the tutoring industry who share these doubts.
Peter Cui, head and founder of an educational organization, who supplies private tutors, commented that "the process of becoming bicultural, or actually, becoming oneself, is something that must be grown into, not manufactured."
Peter noted that he had emigrated from Asia to the United Kingdom at the age of childhood, and had been educated understanding and practicing two backgrounds. He went on to be educated at a prestigious UK institution.
"The idea that one individual can act as a embodiment of UK identity, a person who can in some way impart the characteristics of a UK sophisticate onto a infant child, strikes me as optimistic and unrealistic," he stated.
"In my experience, having a typically UK tutor from babyhood will does not necessarily create the result they desire.
"I never had that kind of mentor, and nevertheless I have been privileged enough to enjoy several of the opportunities they hope for their son."
He added: "The fact is, self-identity can not be imposed from the outside; it must be selected, and it must be internally driven."
Acquiring Englishness
Certainly, UK identity is something the CEO hopes can be taught – and commercialized.
"In my view the situation that the global community regards us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
