"A family based in north London wants to find an extraordinary and skilled educator to support their youngest child on his early path to becoming an British gentleman."
When reading this advertisement, you might naturally overlook the wording "beginning" as just an expression.
Yet, it might be the most important part of this unusual employment listing, as it seeks to hire a teacher for a one-year-old.
Hundreds of submissions have since been sent in since the unidentified family posted their search for the £180,000 per year tutor, who has to be "an exceptional individual".
Over the last few weeks, the advert has received attention in the news, with several questioning why?
Innovative Idea
A tutoring expert, chief executive of an education consultancy, which is assisting the family in their quest, explained that despite early doubt, he found the concept "far sighted", and "advanced".
When he spoke with the family, he said they recognized the unusual nature of their requirement, and how early in age their son is.
Nevertheless, they clarified that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had waited until their elder sibling was five, and by that point "cultural bias had already taken hold".
What exactly does the family mean by "cultural bias"?
It's "all-encompassing", he responded. "The way you eat, the way you speak".
He said the elder child had adopted "very nuanced, unspoken signals" from the family, and had adopted their cultural habits. The family told the consultant they hoped to prevent the same situation to repeat itself with their infant.
The intention: To engage a UK tutor, who needs to speak with standard English accent, to guide the baby from the very start.
Natural Absorption
"A lot of the education at the start here is rather osmotic," said the expert.
It's by means of this subtle influence that the family are expecting the child will acquire the English characteristics they aim to impart.
Adam noted the tutor must be someone who went to "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 suitable individual, they'll be performing things they may not realize they're doing, just naturally," he said.
Money No Object
The family told the expert the selected educator should ideally also have familiarity of or passion in horse riding, winter sports, creative fields and music so as to shape the child in a wide range of interests.
More than that though, he stated the family wanted the tutor to register the child on a variety of classes so the child would be "pony-riding and picking up an tool by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's minds, helping their son develop into a "English gentleman" will bring about achievement and open doors.
"Taking into account the rights and wrongs of that, because it's undoubtedly a status symbol," he comments.
But, in spite of all this guidance in "Britishness", could the child absorb what is termed cultural leaning from the multicultural family he resides with regardless?
"Absolutely", replied the CEO. "The family understand this might not succeed, but they've just taken the attitude of, 'why not attempt it and we'll proceed as quickly as we can', because the cost of it is not relevant," he stated.
Overly Optimistic
Several in the education sector who express those reservations.
Peter Cui, CEO and founder of an educational organization, who also offer private tutors, commented that "the journey of embracing two identities, or indeed, discovering oneself, is something that must be lived into, not designed."
The expert wrote that he had moved from the Far East to the United Kingdom at the age of childhood, and had been brought up experiencing and living both cultures. He continued to study at Cambridge University.
"The concept that a single person can act as a embodiment of Britishness, a person who can in some way impart the characteristics of a English gentleman to a one-year-old child, appears idealistic and unrealistic," he commented.
"In my experience, engaging a typically English tutor from babyhood will does not automatically create the result they hope for.
"I did not have that kind of mentor, and however I have been fortunate enough to enjoy numerous of the situations they desire for their son."
He stated: "The reality is, personal identity cannot be imposed from the external environment; it must be embraced, and it must come from within."
Acquiring Englishness
Certainly, English culture is something Adam believes can be instructed – and sold.
"In my view the fact that the international society holds us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
