"Parents located in north London seeks an remarkable and qualified tutor to support their most junior child on his initial journey to becoming an English gentleman."
Upon seeing this listing, you might easily miss the term "beginning" as simple a turn of phrase.
Yet, it might be the most significant part of this unique position posting, as it attempts to recruit a mentor for a 12-month-old.
Numerous of applications have since been received since the anonymous family published their search for the £180,000 per year tutor, who needs to be "someone very special".
During the past few weeks, the post has attracted attention across the press, with numerous wondering why?
Forward-Thinking Method
The CEO, head and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is supporting the family in their hunt, said that notwithstanding initial skepticism, he found the idea "forward-looking", and "advanced".
When he spoke with the family, he noted they understood the atypical character of their request, and how young 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 older child was five, and by that stage "cultural conditioning had by then become established".
What exactly did the family mean by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "everything", he replied. "How you eat, the manner you speak".
He explained the older sibling had adopted "very nuanced, unspoken signals" from the family, and had taken on their cultural ways. The family told him they hoped to prevent this pattern to happen again with their infant.
The intention: To engage a British tutor, who should speak with Received Pronunciation, to shape the baby right from the beginning.
Natural Absorption
"A lot of the development at the outset here is rather acquired indirectly," stated the expert.
It's via this subtle influence that the family are expecting the child will acquire the British traits they want to impart.
He noted the tutor had to be an individual who attended "the right kinds of schools – the same kinds of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The educator just has to be the right kind of person, they'll be doing things they don't even know they're doing, simply by nature," he commented.
Expense Not a Factor
The family explained to Adam the selected educator should preferably also have knowledge of or passion in horse riding, skiing, the arts and musical activities so as to influence the child in a broad spectrum of interests.
More than that though, he stated the family hoped the tutor to sign up the child on a range of classes so the child would be "horseback riding and learning an musical instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's view, assisting their son grow into a "English gentleman" will lead to achievement and open doors.
"Taking into account the pros and cons of that, because it's undoubtedly a social class indicator," he notes.
Yet, notwithstanding all this tutelage in "English culture", could the child pick up alleged cultural influence from the globally influenced family he resides with regardless?
"Absolutely", replied the CEO. "The family know this may not work, but they've simply adopted the attitude of, 'let's give it a go and we should start as early as we can', because the cost of it is not a concern," he stated.
Impractical
Several in the tutoring industry who express those concerns.
Another CEO, CEO and founder of a tutoring service, who supplies individual instructors, wrote that "the process of adopting dual cultures, or actually, discovering oneself, is something that must be lived into, not designed."
Peter wrote that he had emigrated from China to the UK at the time of seven, and had been raised experiencing and embodying dual heritages. He progressed to learn at a prestigious UK institution.
"The concept that an individual can function as a living vessel of UK identity, someone who can possibly transfer the characteristics of a British gentleman to a one-year-old child, strikes me as idealistic and unfeasible," he wrote.
"From my perspective, having a distinctly UK tutor from babyhood will does not instantly create the goal they hope for.
"I wasn't provided with such a tutor, and nevertheless I have been lucky enough to enjoy many of the experiences they hope for their son."
He continued: "The fact is, personal identity can not be forced from the external environment; it must be embraced, and it must originate internally."
Purchasing UK Culture
Certainly, English culture is something the expert thinks can be taught – and commercialized.
"I believe the fact that the international society regards us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
