"A household based in north London is looking for an extraordinary and experienced instructor to guide their youngest child on his early path to turning into an British gentleman."
Looking at this advertisement, you might easily miss the term "beginning" as mere a turn of phrase.
However, it may be the crucial part of this distinctive position posting, as it seeks to recruit a mentor for a 12-month-old.
Hundreds of responses have already been submitted since the unidentified family advertised their search for the highly paid tutor, who has to be "someone very special".
During the past few weeks, the post has attracted attention in the news, with numerous asking why?
Progressive Approach
A tutoring expert, CEO and founder of Tutors International, which is helping the family in their search, explained that in spite of first scepticism, he found the plan "far sighted", and "advanced".
When he met the family, he mentioned they recognized the atypical aspect of their demand, and how immature their son is.
However, they clarified that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had postponed until their elder sibling was five, and by that stage "cultural influence had already set in".
What exactly did the family mean by "cultural bias"?
It's "comprehensive", the expert replied. "How you eat, how you speak".
He said the elder child had adopted "really subtle, body language" from the family, and had adopted their cultural habits. The family told the consultant they wished to avoid this pattern to recur with their infant.
The strategy: To hire a UK tutor, who should speak with Received Pronunciation, to shape the baby right from the beginning.
Subtle Influence
"A lot of the learning at the beginning here is rather absorbed naturally," said the CEO.
It's by means of this subtle influence that the family are aiming the child will acquire the English characteristics they wish to cultivate.
Adam noted the tutor had to be someone who went to "prestigious academies – comparable categories of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The tutor simply needs to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be performing things they aren't even aware they're doing, effortlessly," he said.
Expense Not a Factor
The family informed Adam the successful candidate should ideally also have understanding of or enthusiasm in equestrian activities, skiing, creative fields and musical activities so as to influence the child in a wide range of hobbies.
Additionally though, he explained the family wanted the tutor to enrol the child on a variety of courses so the child would be "pony-riding 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 result in success and open doors.
"Considering the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's definitely a social class indicator," he comments.
But, notwithstanding all this tutelage in "Britishness", could the child pick up so-called cultural leaning from the globally influenced family he lives with in any case?
"Certainly", answered the CEO. "They realize this may not work, but they've merely embraced the view of, 'let's give it a go and we'll proceed as early as we can', because the expense of it is not a concern," he explained.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
Several in the private teaching field who express those reservations.
An education leader, head and founder of a tutoring service, who supplies personal educators, stated that "the journey of adopting dual cultures, or actually, becoming oneself, is something that must be lived into, not engineered."
The expert explained that he had relocated from Asia to the United Kingdom at the age of 7 years old, and had been educated knowing and living dual heritages. He progressed to be educated at the University of Cambridge.
"The concept that an individual can serve as a living vessel of UK identity, a person who can somehow impart the attributes of a English gentleman onto a 12-month-old child, seems to me naive and unfeasible," he wrote.
"From my perspective, having a quintessentially British tutor from babyhood will not instantly create the goal they desire.
"I never had such a figure, and however I have been lucky enough to live many of the opportunities they aspire for their son."
He continued: "The reality is, cultural identity should not be forced from the outside; it must be selected, and it must be internally driven."
Acquiring Englishness
Certainly, English culture is something the expert thinks can be taught – and sold.
"I believe the situation that the world views us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
