"Parents located in north London is looking for an exceptional and qualified tutor to assist their most junior child on his early path to turning into an British gentleman."
When reading this advertisement, you might naturally overlook the term "beginning" as mere a turn of phrase.
Yet, it might be the crucial part of this distinctive employment listing, as it attempts to recruit a teacher for a 12-month-old.
Many of applications have now been submitted since the unidentified family posted their request for the £180,000 per year tutor, who has to be "someone very special".
Over the last few weeks, the advert has received attention across the news, with many wondering why?
Forward-Thinking Method
The CEO, chief executive of Tutors International, which is helping the family in their hunt, said that despite initial doubt, he found the concept "forward-looking", and "progressive".
When he met the family, he said they understood the atypical aspect of their demand, and how immature their son is.
However, they explained that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had held off until their older child was five, and by that age "cultural bias had already become established".
But what does the family mean by "cultural bias"?
It's "everything", the expert replied. "How you eat, the manner you speak".
He explained the older sibling had adopted "really subtle, body language" from the family, and had assumed their cultural habits. The family told him they did not want this pattern to repeat itself with their infant.
The plan: To engage a English tutor, who needs to speak with standard English accent, to shape the baby from the very start.
Subtle Influence
"Much of the education at the start here is rather osmotic," stated the CEO.
It's via this osmosis that the family are hoping the child will pick up the English characteristics they aim to instil.
Adam said the tutor needed to be somebody who went to "the appropriate educational institutions – comparable categories of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The instructor must be the suitable individual, they'll be performing things they aren't even aware they're doing, effortlessly," he added.
Cost Not Relevant
The family informed Adam the successful candidate should ideally also have understanding of or interest in riding, winter sports, the arts and music so as to inspire the child in a wide range of interests.
More than that though, he stated the family wanted the tutor to enrol the child on a variety of courses so the child would be "equestrian training and picking up an tool by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's view, helping their son develop into a "English gentleman" will result in achievement and open doors.
"Considering the rights and wrongs of that, because it's undoubtedly a social class indicator," he comments.
Yet, in spite of all this tutelage in "English culture", might the child pick up what is termed cultural leaning from the multicultural family he lives with anyway?
"Absolutely", replied the CEO. "The family understand this might not succeed, but they've simply adopted the attitude of, 'let's give it a go and let's go as quickly as we can', because the cost of it is irrelevant," he stated.
Impractical
There are some in the private teaching field who have similar doubts.
An education leader, chief executive of a tutoring service, who supplies private tutors, stated that "the journey of adopting dual cultures, or indeed, becoming oneself, is something that must be grown into, not manufactured."
He explained that he had emigrated from Asia to the United Kingdom at the age of childhood, and had been brought up knowing and embodying dual heritages. He progressed to learn at Cambridge University.
"The notion that an individual can act as a embodiment of UK identity, someone who can possibly transplant the qualities of a UK sophisticate upon a one-year-old child, strikes me as optimistic and unfeasible," he wrote.
"In my experience, engaging a typically British tutor from infancy will not instantly create the outcome they hope for.
"I wasn't provided with such a tutor, and nevertheless I have been lucky enough to enjoy many of the situations they aspire for their son."
He stated: "The reality is, personal identity should not be imposed from the outside influences; it must be embraced, and it must originate internally."
Purchasing UK Culture
Certainly, English culture is something the CEO believes can be instructed – and marketed.
"In my view the fact that the world views us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
