"A family located in the northern part of London is looking for an remarkable and experienced educator to assist their smallest child on his initial journey to turning into an British gentleman."
When reading this post, you might readily skip the phrase "beginning" as simple a turn of phrase.
Yet, it could be the crucial aspect of this unique job advert, as it aims to find a mentor for a infant.
Hundreds of applications have since been received since the anonymous family advertised their search for the £180,000 per year tutor, who has to be "a uniquely qualified person".
Over the last few weeks, the advert has received interest in the press, with numerous questioning why?
Forward-Thinking Method
A tutoring expert, head and founder of an education consultancy, which is supporting the family in their quest, stated that notwithstanding early doubt, he viewed the plan "visionary", and "innovative".
When he spoke with the family, he said they recognized the unusual nature of their request, and how early in age their son is.
However, they explained that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to get a tutor, as they had postponed until their elder sibling was five, and by that stage "cultural influence had already set in".
But what does the family mean by "cultural bias"?
It's "comprehensive", Adam answered. "How you eat, the way you speak".
He said the elder child had adopted "really subtle, unspoken signals" from the family, and had adopted their cultural habits. The family explained to him they did not want history to repeat itself with their new baby.
The strategy: To bring in a UK tutor, who must speak with standard English accent, to guide the baby from day one.
Natural Absorption
"Much of the education at the outset here is rather acquired indirectly," stated Adam.
It's by means of this natural absorption that the family are aiming the child will adopt the English characteristics they wish to impart.
Adam noted the tutor must be somebody who attended "the right kinds of schools – similar types of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The instructor simply needs to be the suitable individual, they'll be carrying out things they may not realize they're doing, just naturally," he commented.
Cost Not Relevant
The family told the expert the selected educator should ideally also have understanding of or passion in horse riding, skiing, creative fields and music so as to influence the child in a diverse set of hobbies.
More than that though, he said the family desired the tutor to register the child on a selection of courses so the child would be "equestrian training and learning an instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's perspective, helping their son develop into a "UK sophisticate" will lead to achievement and create opportunities.
"For all the pros and cons of that, because it's undoubtedly a social class indicator," he notes.
Yet, notwithstanding all this tutelage in "Britishness", could the child pick up so-called cultural influence from the multicultural family he lives with in any case?
"Certainly", replied he. "The family understand this might not succeed, but they've merely embraced the view of, 'we should try and we should start as soon as we can', because the expense of it is not a concern," he said.
Overly Optimistic
There are some in the tutoring industry who have these reservations.
Peter Cui, head and founder of Blue Education, who supplies individual instructors, wrote that "the process of embracing two identities, or actually, forming one's identity, is something that must be experienced personally, not engineered."
He wrote that he had relocated from the Far East to the United Kingdom at the age of seven, and had been educated knowing and embodying both cultures. He continued to learn at the University of Cambridge.
"The notion that a single person can function as a embodiment of UK identity, someone who can possibly impart the attributes of a British gentleman onto a one-year-old child, seems to me naive and impractical," he commented.
"In my experience, engaging a distinctly UK tutor from early childhood will not automatically create the result they hope for.
"I did not have that kind of mentor, and yet I have been privileged enough to live numerous of the opportunities they aspire for their son."
He continued: "The fact is, personal identity cannot be forced from the outside; it must be selected, and it must originate internally."
Acquiring Englishness
Certainly, English culture is something Adam believes can be taught – and commercialized.
"I think the situation that the world views us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
