"A family located in north London is looking for an extraordinary and skilled tutor to guide their smallest child on his first steps to becoming an English gentleman."
When reading this post, you might naturally miss the phrase "beginning" as simple a turn of phrase.
However, it might be the crucial part of this unique job advert, as it attempts to find a teacher for a 12-month-old.
Numerous of applications have since been submitted since the unnamed family advertised their call for the £180k-a-year tutor, who needs to be "someone very special".
In recent few weeks, the post has attracted interest across the press, with numerous wondering why?
Forward-Thinking Method
The CEO, head and founder of Tutors International, which is helping the family in their hunt, said that in spite of first scepticism, he considered the idea "forward-looking", and "advanced".
When he consulted the family, he noted they understood the unusual nature of their requirement, and how young their son is.
But, they explained that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to get a tutor, as they had postponed until their older child was five, and by that age "cultural influence had already taken hold".
But what did the family refer to by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "comprehensive", he replied. "How you eat, the way you speak".
He stated the elder child had picked up "extremely delicate, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had assumed their cultural norms. The family explained to the consultant they did not want this pattern to repeat itself with their younger child.
The strategy: To bring in a British tutor, who should speak with Received Pronunciation, to influence the baby right from the beginning.
Subtle Influence
"A great deal of the education at the beginning here is somewhat acquired indirectly," explained the expert.
It's via this osmosis that the family are aiming the child will adopt the British traits they aim to instil.
The consultant said the tutor had to be somebody who attended "the appropriate educational institutions – similar types of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The tutor just has to be the suitable individual, they'll be performing things they don't even know they're doing, effortlessly," he added.
Expense Not a Factor
The family explained to Adam the chosen tutor should ideally also have familiarity of or enthusiasm in horse riding, skiing, artistic pursuits and music so as to inspire the child in a wide range of hobbies.
Additionally though, he stated the family wanted the tutor to register the child on a range of classes so the child would be "horseback riding and picking up an musical instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's minds, guiding their son grow into a "English gentleman" will lead to accomplishment and open doors.
"Taking into account the rights and wrongs of that, because it's certainly a class statement," he adds.
However, notwithstanding all this guidance in "UK identity", might the child absorb alleged cultural bias from the international family he lives with in any case?
"Yes", answered the CEO. "They understand this may not work, but they've simply adopted the view of, 'we should try and we should start as soon as we can', because the expense of it is irrelevant," he said.
Overly Optimistic
Several in the education sector who have similar doubts.
An education leader, chief executive of an educational organization, who supplies private tutors, stated that "the process of becoming bicultural, or indeed, forming one's identity, is something that must be lived into, not manufactured."
The expert noted that he had moved from China to the United Kingdom at the period of 7 years old, and had been raised understanding and living both cultures. He continued to study at Cambridge University.
"The notion that an individual can serve as a embodiment of UK identity, a person who can somehow transfer the qualities of a English gentleman onto a 12-month-old child, seems to me optimistic and impractical," he commented.
"In my experience, employing a typically British tutor from infancy will will not automatically produce the outcome they want.
"I never had that kind of mentor, and however I have been fortunate enough to enjoy numerous of the situations they aspire for their son."
He stated: "The fact is, self-identity can not be forced from the external environment; it must be selected, and it must originate internally."
Buying Britishness
Naturally, UK identity is something the expert hopes can be instructed – and marketed.
"I believe the reality that the world holds us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
