"Parents located in North London seeks an remarkable and experienced educator to assist their most junior child on his initial journey to growing into an British gentleman."
When reading this listing, you might naturally skip the phrase "beginning" as mere figurative language.
However, it may be the most important aspect of this distinctive position posting, as it attempts to find a mentor for a 12-month-old.
Hundreds of responses have since been sent in since the anonymous family published their search for the highly paid tutor, who has to be "someone very special".
In recent few weeks, the post has attracted attention in the press, with several asking why?
Forward-Thinking Method
The CEO, CEO and founder of Tutors International, which is assisting the family in their search, explained that despite initial doubt, he considered the idea "visionary", and "innovative".
When he spoke with the family, he said they recognized the unconventional nature of their demand, and how immature their son is.
However, they clarified that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to get a tutor, as they had held off until their firstborn was five, and by that age "cultural influence had by then become established".
What precisely does the family refer to by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "all-encompassing", Adam responded. "The way you eat, how you speak".
He explained the firstborn had adopted "really subtle, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had taken on their cultural ways. The family told the consultant they hoped to prevent this pattern to happen again with their infant.
The intention: To engage a English tutor, who should speak with standard English accent, to influence the baby right from the beginning.
Subtle Influence
"Much of the learning at the start here is kind of osmotic," stated Adam.
It's through this subtle influence that the family are hoping the child will acquire the English characteristics they wish to cultivate.
He noted the tutor had to be an individual who studied at "the right kinds of schools – the same kinds of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The instructor must be the suitable individual, they'll be carrying out things they don't even know they're doing, simply by nature," he said.
Money No Object
The family informed Adam the chosen tutor should ideally also have knowledge of or enthusiasm in horse riding, winter sports, creative fields and music so as to influence the child in a diverse set of hobbies.
More than that though, he stated the family hoped the tutor to sign up the child on a range of courses so the child would be "pony-riding and picking up an musical instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's minds, guiding their son develop into a "UK sophisticate" will bring about success and open doors.
"Taking into account the pros and cons of that, because it's certainly a social class indicator," he comments.
But, notwithstanding all this instruction in "English culture", would the child pick up so-called cultural leaning from the international family he lives with in any case?
"Absolutely", answered he. "The parents understand this could fail, but they've merely embraced the perspective of, 'why not attempt it and we should start as early as we can', because the expense of it is irrelevant," he said.
Overly Optimistic
Several in the education sector who share those reservations.
An education leader, head and founder of an educational organization, who supplies private tutors, commented that "the development of adopting dual cultures, or actually, forming one's identity, is something that must be lived into, not designed."
Peter explained that he had relocated from China to the Britain at the period of seven, and had been educated understanding and living dual heritages. He continued to study at a prestigious UK institution.
"The concept that an individual can function as a living vessel of Britishness, a person who can in some way transplant the characteristics of a UK sophisticate to a one-year-old child, strikes me as idealistic and impractical," he stated.
"In my experience, employing a typically British tutor from early childhood will not necessarily achieve the outcome they want.
"I wasn't provided with such a figure, and yet I have been lucky enough to enjoy many of the experiences they aspire for their son."
He stated: "The fact is, personal identity cannot be forced from the outside; it must be selected, and it must come from within."
Buying Britishness
Certainly, UK identity is something Adam thinks can be educated – and sold.
"I think the fact that the international society views us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
