"A household residing in North London seeks an exceptional and experienced tutor to assist their most junior child on his early path to growing into an English gentleman."
When reading this advertisement, you might readily miss the wording "beginning" as mere an expression.
However, it might be the crucial element of this unique job advert, as it attempts to find a teacher for a one-year-old.
Many of applications have already been submitted since the anonymous family advertised their request for the highly paid tutor, who has to be "someone very special".
During the past few weeks, the listing has received interest throughout the press, with several wondering why?
Forward-Thinking Method
The CEO, CEO and founder of an education consultancy, which is assisting the family in their hunt, stated that notwithstanding initial scepticism, he considered the idea "forward-looking", and "innovative".
When he spoke with the family, he noted they understood the atypical aspect of their requirement, and how early in age their son is.
However, they explained 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 stage "cultural bias had already set in".
What exactly does the family refer to by "cultural bias"?
It's "everything", Adam answered. "How you eat, the manner you speak".
He stated the older sibling had adopted "very nuanced, body language" from the family, and had assumed their cultural ways. The family told Adam they hoped to prevent history to recur with their younger child.
The strategy: To hire a English tutor, who should speak with Received Pronunciation, to guide the baby from the very start.
Osmotic Learning
"A lot of the learning at the outset here is kind of absorbed naturally," said the CEO.
It's via this subtle influence that the family are hoping the child will acquire the English characteristics they aim to instil.
The consultant noted the tutor must be an individual who went to "the right kinds of schools – comparable categories of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The instructor simply needs to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be performing things they may not realize they're doing, simply by nature," he added.
Money No Object
The family informed Adam the chosen tutor should ideally also have familiarity of or interest in equestrian activities, winter sports, the arts and musical activities so as to shape the child in a broad spectrum of hobbies.
More than that though, he stated the family wanted the tutor to register the child on a selection of classes so the child would be "pony-riding and learning an instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's minds, assisting their son become a "British gentleman" will lead to achievement and open doors.
"Considering the pros and cons of that, because it's definitely a class statement," he adds.
However, notwithstanding all this guidance in "Britishness", would the child pick up so-called cultural leaning from the international family he resides with regardless?
"Absolutely", answered the CEO. "The parents know this could fail, but they've merely embraced the view of, 'why not attempt it and we'll proceed as early as we can', because the cost of it is irrelevant," he explained.
Overly Optimistic
A number of in the tutoring industry who share those concerns.
Another CEO, chief executive of Blue Education, who supplies private tutors, commented that "the development of embracing two identities, or indeed, discovering oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not manufactured."
Peter wrote that he had relocated from China to the UK at the age of 7 years old, and had been brought up experiencing and practicing both cultures. He went on to learn at a prestigious UK institution.
"The notion that one individual can act as a representation of UK identity, someone who can possibly transplant the attributes of a UK sophisticate onto a 12-month-old child, appears optimistic and unrealistic," he commented.
"Based on my background, engaging a quintessentially British tutor from early childhood will will not necessarily create the goal they desire.
"I did not have such a tutor, and however I have been fortunate enough to live numerous of the situations they aspire for their son."
He continued: "The fact is, self-identity cannot be dictated from the outside; it must be chosen, and it must originate internally."
Acquiring Englishness
Of course, UK identity is something the CEO believes can be instructed – and sold.
"In my view the reality that the world regards us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
