"Parents residing in the northern part of London is looking for an extraordinary and experienced instructor to assist their smallest child on his first steps to turning into an British gentleman."
Looking at this advertisement, you might easily skip the wording "beginning" as just a turn of phrase.
But, it may be the crucial part of this distinctive employment listing, as it seeks to find a mentor for a 12-month-old.
Hundreds of responses have since been received since the unidentified family published their call for the £180,000 per year tutor, who has to be "an exceptional individual".
Over the last few weeks, the listing has received attention across the press, with many questioning why?
Innovative Idea
A tutoring expert, head and founder of Tutors International, which is helping the family in their search, said that despite first scepticism, he considered the plan "visionary", and "advanced".
When he spoke with the family, he said they appreciated the unusual nature of their demand, and how early in age their son is.
However, they clarified that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had waited until their elder sibling was five, and by that age "cultural conditioning had already set in".
But what did the family mean by "cultural bias"?
It's "everything", he replied. "The way you eat, the manner you speak".
He explained the firstborn had absorbed "very nuanced, unspoken signals" from the family, and had adopted their cultural ways. The family informed him they did not want the same situation to repeat itself with their new baby.
The intention: To bring in a British tutor, who must speak with Received Pronunciation, to guide the baby right from the beginning.
Osmotic Learning
"Much of the development at the start here is somewhat osmotic," stated the expert.
It's by means of this natural absorption that the family are hoping the child will acquire the UK customs they aim to instil.
The consultant noted the tutor needed to be somebody who studied at "the appropriate educational institutions – similar types of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The tutor simply needs to be the right kind of person, they'll be doing things they aren't even aware they're doing, effortlessly," he said.
Cost Not Relevant
The family informed Adam the selected educator should ideally also have knowledge of or passion in horse riding, skiing, creative fields and instrumental training so as to influence the child in a broad spectrum of interests.
Furthermore though, he stated the family hoped the tutor to register the child on a selection of classes so the child would be "equestrian training and picking up an instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's minds, assisting their son grow into a "English gentleman" will bring about accomplishment and create opportunities.
"For all the rights and wrongs of that, because it's undoubtedly a class statement," he comments.
But, despite all this guidance in "Britishness", could the child adopt so-called cultural leaning from the globally influenced family he is raised by anyway?
"Yes", said Adam. "They understand this may not work, but they've simply adopted the view of, 'let's give it a go and we'll proceed as early as we can', because the price of it is irrelevant," he stated.
Impractical
A number of in the education sector who have those reservations.
An education leader, head and founder of a tutoring service, who provides private tutors, stated that "the development of becoming bicultural, or actually, becoming oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not manufactured."
Peter noted that he had emigrated from China to the United Kingdom at the time of seven, and had been educated knowing and practicing dual heritages. He continued to be educated at the University of Cambridge.
"The notion that an individual can serve as a representation of Britishness, an individual who can in some way transfer the attributes of a British gentleman to a infant child, appears idealistic and unrealistic," he commented.
"In my experience, engaging a distinctly British tutor from babyhood will not necessarily produce the result they hope for.
"I did not have such a tutor, and yet I have been privileged enough to experience many of the experiences they aspire for their son."
He continued: "The truth is, cultural identity can not be dictated from the outside; it must be chosen, and it must originate internally."
Purchasing UK Culture
Naturally, Britishness is something the expert believes can be instructed – and sold.
"I think the situation that the global community views us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
