"A household located in North London seeks an remarkable and qualified tutor to guide their youngest child on his first steps to turning into an English gentleman."
Upon seeing this listing, you might naturally skip the phrase "beginning" as just figurative language.
However, it could be the most significant element of this unique position posting, as it seeks to recruit a mentor for a one-year-old.
Numerous of responses have already been submitted since the unnamed family advertised their search for the £180k-a-year tutor, who must be "someone very special".
Over the last few weeks, the post has received interest throughout the news, with several asking why?
Forward-Thinking Method
The CEO, chief executive of a global tutoring firm, which is assisting the family in their quest, explained that in spite of first scepticism, he found the plan "visionary", and "advanced".
When he spoke with the family, he said they recognized the unusual nature of their request, and how immature their son is.
However, they clarified that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to get a tutor, as they had held off until their firstborn was five, and by that age "cultural bias had by then taken hold".
What exactly does the family indicate by "cultural bias"?
It's "all-encompassing", the expert answered. "How you eat, how you speak".
He said the elder child had adopted "really subtle, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had adopted their cultural habits. The family informed the consultant they hoped to prevent this pattern to repeat itself with their younger child.
The plan: To engage a British tutor, who needs to speak with RP, to influence the baby right from the beginning.
Subtle Influence
"A lot of the development at the beginning here is somewhat acquired indirectly," explained the CEO.
It's through this natural absorption that the family are expecting the child will acquire the UK customs they aim to instil.
Adam said the tutor must be somebody who studied at "the appropriate educational institutions – similar types of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The instructor just has to be the right kind of person, they'll be carrying out things they aren't even aware they're doing, simply by nature," he commented.
Cost Not Relevant
The family informed him the selected educator should ideally also have understanding of or interest in horse riding, skiing, the arts and music so as to influence the child in a broad spectrum of interests.
More than that though, he stated the family wanted the tutor to register the child on a variety of courses so the child would be "pony-riding and picking up an musical instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's perspective, guiding their son develop into a "English gentleman" will result in accomplishment and open doors.
"For all the pros and cons of that, because it's definitely a social class indicator," he comments.
Yet, in spite of all this tutelage in "Britishness", would the child pick up alleged cultural bias from the multicultural family he lives with regardless?
"Certainly", replied he. "The parents understand this may not work, but they've just taken the perspective of, 'let's give it a go and we'll proceed as quickly as we can', because the expense of it is not relevant," he stated.
Overly Optimistic
There are some in the tutoring industry who have these doubts.
Peter Cui, head and founder of a tutoring service, who supplies individual instructors, stated that "the development of embracing two identities, or indeed, becoming oneself, is something that must be grown into, not engineered."
He wrote that he had relocated from the Far East to the UK at the time of 7 years old, and had been raised experiencing and practicing two backgrounds. He went on to learn at a prestigious UK institution.
"The notion that a single person can act as a embodiment of UK identity, a person who can somehow impart the attributes of a British gentleman upon a one-year-old child, strikes me as optimistic and unrealistic," he wrote.
"Based on my background, employing a distinctly English tutor from early childhood will does not instantly achieve the result they want.
"I did not have such a tutor, and however I have been lucky enough to live several of the opportunities they desire for their son."
He added: "The fact is, personal identity can not be dictated from the outside; it must be selected, and it must originate internally."
Purchasing UK Culture
Naturally, English culture is something the expert believes can be taught – and marketed.
"In my view the reality that the global community regards us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
