"A family located in the northern part of London is looking for an extraordinary and qualified tutor to guide their youngest child on his initial journey to growing into an English gentleman."
Upon seeing this post, you might readily skip the phrase "beginning" as mere figurative language.
Yet, it might be the crucial part of this unique job advert, as it seeks to find a teacher for a 12-month-old.
Hundreds of applications have now been submitted since the anonymous family advertised their call for the highly paid tutor, who needs to be "someone very special".
During the past few weeks, the listing has received attention throughout the press, with many questioning why?
Progressive Approach
A tutoring expert, head and founder of Tutors International, which is assisting the family in their quest, stated that notwithstanding initial doubt, he considered the plan "forward-looking", and "advanced".
When he spoke with the family, he said they appreciated the unusual nature of their requirement, and how early in age their son is.
Nevertheless, they clarified that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had postponed until their firstborn was five, and by that age "cultural conditioning had by then become established".
But what did the family refer to by "cultural bias"?
It's "comprehensive", Adam responded. "The way you eat, the way you speak".
He said the firstborn had absorbed "very nuanced, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had taken on their cultural habits. The family told Adam they wished to avoid history to happen again with their younger child.
The plan: To hire a English tutor, who must speak with RP, to influence the baby from the very start.
Osmotic Learning
"A lot of the education at the beginning here is rather osmotic," said Adam.
It's through this natural absorption that the family are aiming the child will acquire the UK customs they want to impart.
Adam said the tutor needed to be someone who attended "the appropriate educational institutions – the same kinds of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The educator simply needs to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be performing things they may not realize they're doing, simply by nature," he added.
Cost Not Relevant
The family informed Adam the selected educator should ideally also have knowledge of or interest in horse riding, skiing, the arts and music so as to influence the child in a diverse set of passions.
More than that though, he stated the family hoped the tutor to enrol the child on a range of lessons so the child would be "equestrian training and picking up an instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's view, helping their son grow into a "UK sophisticate" will lead to success and open doors.
"Considering the rights and wrongs of that, because it's undoubtedly a social class indicator," he adds.
But, notwithstanding all this instruction in "English culture", might the child adopt what is termed cultural leaning from the multicultural family he is raised by in any case?
"Certainly", answered the CEO. "The family know this could fail, but they've merely embraced the perspective of, 'we should try and let's go as early as we can', because the price of it is irrelevant," he stated.
Impractical
There are some in the education sector who have those doubts.
Peter Cui, CEO and founder of an educational organization, who provides personal educators, stated that "the development of embracing two identities, or actually, becoming oneself, is something that must be grown into, not engineered."
Peter wrote that he had moved from China to the United Kingdom at the age of 7 years old, and had been brought up knowing and practicing two backgrounds. He went on to learn at the University of Cambridge.
"The idea that a single person can serve as a embodiment of English culture, a person who can somehow transfer the qualities of a English gentleman upon a 12-month-old child, seems to me idealistic and impractical," he commented.
"Based on my background, having a distinctly UK tutor from early childhood will will not necessarily achieve the result they want.
"I never had that kind of mentor, and nevertheless I have been fortunate enough to experience numerous of the experiences they desire for their son."
He continued: "The fact is, personal identity cannot be imposed from the outside influences; it must be embraced, and it must originate internally."
Buying Britishness
Naturally, Britishness is something Adam thinks can be taught – and sold.
"In my view the situation that the world regards us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
