"A household based in the northern part of London wants to find an remarkable and skilled instructor to support their most junior child on his initial journey to becoming an English gentleman."
When reading this listing, you might naturally overlook the phrase "beginning" as mere a turn of phrase.
However, it may be the crucial part of this unique position posting, as it aims to find a teacher for a infant.
Hundreds of applications have now been sent in since the unidentified family published their request for the highly paid tutor, who has to be "an exceptional individual".
Over the last few weeks, the advert has attracted attention in the press, with several wondering why?
Innovative Idea
A tutoring expert, CEO and founder of Tutors International, which is assisting the family in their quest, stated that in spite of first skepticism, he found the plan "forward-looking", and "innovative".
When he spoke with the family, he mentioned they recognized the unconventional character of their request, and how early in age their son is.
Nevertheless, they clarified that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to get a tutor, as they had held off until their elder sibling was five, and by that stage "cultural bias had already set in".
What exactly does the family indicate by "cultural bias"?
It's "everything", the expert replied. "How you eat, the manner you speak".
He explained the elder child had picked up "really subtle, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had taken on their cultural norms. The family explained to him they did not want history to repeat itself with their younger child.
The plan: To engage a British tutor, who needs to speak with Received Pronunciation, to shape the baby from day one.
Osmotic Learning
"Much of the development at the beginning here is kind of osmotic," stated the expert.
It's via this natural absorption that the family are expecting the child will acquire the British traits they wish to impart.
He noted the tutor needed to be somebody who studied at "prestigious academies – similar types of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The instructor must be the right kind of person, they'll be performing things they may not realize they're doing, just naturally," he said.
Expense Not a Factor
The family told Adam the selected educator should preferably also have knowledge of or passion in equestrian activities, alpine skiing, creative fields and music so as to shape the child in a wide range of interests.
Additionally though, he said the family desired the tutor to sign up the child on a selection of lessons so the child would be "equestrian training and learning an musical instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's minds, assisting their son grow into a "British gentleman" will bring about success and open doors.
"For all the pros and cons of that, because it's certainly a status symbol," he adds.
Yet, notwithstanding all this tutelage in "English culture", might the child adopt alleged cultural leaning from the multicultural family he lives with anyway?
"Yes", replied he. "The family understand this could fail, but they've just taken the perspective of, 'we should try and let's go as quickly as we can', because the expense of it is irrelevant," he explained.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
There are some in the private teaching field who share these reservations.
An education leader, head and founder of Blue Education, who also offer private tutors, wrote that "the process of embracing two identities, or indeed, becoming oneself, is something that must be lived into, not engineered."
The expert explained that he had emigrated from Asia to the Britain at the period of seven, and had been brought up knowing and living dual heritages. He continued to study at the University of Cambridge.
"The idea that a single person can function as a representation of English culture, someone who can somehow impart the attributes of a British gentleman to a infant child, seems to me idealistic and impractical," he stated.
"From my perspective, employing a typically English tutor from infancy will will not necessarily achieve the result they desire.
"I never had such a figure, and nevertheless I have been lucky enough to experience numerous of the opportunities they aspire for their son."
He stated: "The fact is, self-identity can not be dictated from the outside; it must be selected, and it must come from within."
Purchasing UK Culture
Of course, English culture is something Adam hopes can be taught – and commercialized.
"I think the situation that the international society regards us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating