"Parents residing in North London seeks an extraordinary and qualified tutor to guide their most junior child on his early path to becoming an British gentleman."
Upon seeing this advertisement, you might naturally skip the term "beginning" as just an expression.
However, it could be the crucial element of this unusual position posting, as it aims to find a teacher for a one-year-old.
Hundreds of applications have since been received since the unnamed family published their call for the £180,000 per year tutor, who has to be "an exceptional individual".
During the past few weeks, the post has attracted attention throughout the media, with several questioning why?
Progressive Approach
The CEO, head and founder of Tutors International, which is supporting the family in their search, stated that notwithstanding first skepticism, he found the idea "visionary", and "progressive".
When he consulted the family, he noted they recognized the unconventional nature of their requirement, and how immature their son is.
Nevertheless, they clarified that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had waited until their firstborn was five, and by that point "cultural bias had already set in".
What exactly does the family mean by "cultural bias"?
It's "everything", he answered. "The way you eat, the manner you speak".
He said the older sibling had adopted "extremely delicate, unspoken signals" from the family, and had taken on their cultural ways. The family informed Adam they wished to avoid history to repeat itself with their new baby.
The strategy: To bring in a UK tutor, who should speak with standard English accent, to guide the baby right from the beginning.
Osmotic Learning
"A lot of the learning at the outset here is somewhat absorbed naturally," explained the CEO.
It's via this natural absorption that the family are aiming the child will pick up the British traits they wish to impart.
Adam said the tutor must be someone who went to "the appropriate educational institutions – similar types of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The instructor simply needs to be the right kind of person, they'll be doing things they don't even know they're doing, effortlessly," he added.
Cost Not Relevant
The family informed him the chosen tutor should preferably also have understanding of or passion in equestrian activities, winter sports, the arts and musical activities so as to shape the child in a wide range of interests.
Furthermore though, he stated the family hoped the tutor to enrol the child on a range of classes so the child would be "equestrian training and picking up an musical instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's minds, guiding their son become a "English gentleman" will lead to accomplishment and create opportunities.
"For all the pros and cons of that, because it's undoubtedly a class statement," he comments.
However, in spite of all this guidance in "UK identity", could the child absorb what is termed cultural leaning from the globally influenced family he lives with regardless?
"Certainly", answered Adam. "The parents know this may not work, but they've simply adopted the attitude of, 'we should try and let's go as quickly as we can', because the price of it is not a concern," he explained.
Impractical
There are some in the tutoring industry who share those doubts.
Another CEO, head and founder of a tutoring service, who supplies private tutors, commented that "the process of becoming bicultural, or in fact, discovering oneself, is something that must be lived into, not manufactured."
The expert noted that he had relocated from Asia to the Britain at the age of childhood, and had been raised knowing and embodying two backgrounds. He continued to learn at Cambridge University.
"The notion that one individual can act as a representation of UK identity, an individual who can possibly transfer the characteristics of a English gentleman onto a infant child, seems to me naive and unfeasible," he commented.
"Based on my background, having a quintessentially English tutor from early childhood will does not necessarily create the result they hope for.
"I wasn't provided with such a figure, and however I have been fortunate enough to experience numerous of the opportunities they hope for their son."
He stated: "The fact is, cultural identity can not be imposed from the outside influences; it must be chosen, and it must originate internally."
Buying Britishness
Certainly, UK identity is something the expert hopes can be instructed – and commercialized.
"I think the situation that the international society holds us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
