"Parents based in the northern part of London wants to find an remarkable and skilled instructor to guide their smallest child on his early path to growing into an English gentleman."
Looking at this advertisement, you might naturally skip the phrase "beginning" as mere an expression.
However, it might be the most important part of this distinctive job advert, as it aims to hire a mentor for a one-year-old.
Hundreds of applications have since been sent in since the unnamed family published their search for the £180k-a-year tutor, who must be "someone very special".
During the past few weeks, the listing has attracted notice throughout the media, with several questioning why?
Innovative Idea
Adam Caller, chief executive of an education consultancy, which is helping the family in their quest, said that notwithstanding early doubt, he found the concept "far sighted", and "innovative".
When he consulted the family, he said they understood the unconventional character of their requirement, and how early in age their son is.
But, they explained that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to get a tutor, as they had postponed until their older child was five, and by that stage "cultural bias had by then become established".
What precisely did the family mean by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "everything", the expert responded. "How you eat, the way you speak".
He stated the older sibling had adopted "very nuanced, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had taken on their cultural habits. The family told Adam they hoped to prevent history to happen again with their infant.
The plan: To bring in a British tutor, who should speak with RP, to shape the baby from the very start.
Natural Absorption
"A lot of the development at the beginning here is somewhat osmotic," said the CEO.
It's through this subtle influence that the family are hoping the child will pick up the British traits they aim to cultivate.
The consultant noted the tutor needed to be an individual who studied at "the right kinds of schools – the same kinds of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The educator just has to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be doing things they don't even know they're doing, effortlessly," he said.
Cost Not Relevant
The family informed Adam the selected educator should ideally also have understanding of or interest in riding, skiing, creative fields and musical activities so as to shape the child in a broad spectrum of interests.
Additionally though, he said the family desired the tutor to sign up the child on a variety of classes so the child would be "equestrian training and learning an instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's perspective, helping their son develop into a "UK sophisticate" will lead to accomplishment and open doors.
"For all the pros and cons of that, because it's undoubtedly a class statement," he notes.
But, despite all this guidance in "UK identity", would the child absorb what is termed cultural leaning from the globally influenced family he is raised by anyway?
"Certainly", said the CEO. "The parents understand this could fail, but they've just taken the attitude of, 'why not attempt it and we'll proceed as early as we can', because the price of it is irrelevant," he stated.
Impractical
There are some in the private teaching field who express those concerns.
Peter Cui, CEO and founder of an educational organization, who also offer private tutors, stated that "the development of becoming bicultural, or indeed, discovering oneself, is something that must be lived into, not engineered."
Peter wrote that he had moved from China to the Britain at the age of seven, and had been educated experiencing and practicing dual heritages. He continued to study at a prestigious UK institution.
"The notion that a single person can serve as a representation of English culture, an individual who can somehow impart the qualities of a UK sophisticate onto a one-year-old child, seems to me optimistic and unrealistic," he wrote.
"From my perspective, engaging a distinctly UK tutor from babyhood will not necessarily achieve the result they desire.
"I did not have such a figure, and however I have been lucky enough to live several of the experiences they aspire for their son."
He continued: "The fact is, cultural identity should not be dictated from the outside; it must be chosen, and it must be internally driven."
Buying Britishness
Of course, English culture is something Adam hopes can be taught – and commercialized.
"I think the fact that the international society holds us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
