"Parents located in the northern part of London seeks an extraordinary and qualified tutor to support their most junior child on his early path to becoming an British gentleman."
Upon seeing this advertisement, you might easily overlook the wording "beginning" as simple figurative language.
However, it might be the most significant part of this unusual employment listing, as it seeks to find a tutor for a one-year-old.
Many of responses have already been submitted since the unnamed family published their search for the £180k-a-year tutor, who must be "a uniquely qualified person".
Over the last few weeks, the listing has gained attention in the press, with numerous wondering why?
Progressive Approach
A tutoring expert, CEO and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is helping the family in their quest, explained that in spite of early doubt, he considered the idea "forward-looking", and "advanced".
When he consulted the family, he mentioned they recognized the unusual character of their request, and how early in age their son is.
Nevertheless, they clarified that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had waited until their firstborn was five, and by that age "cultural conditioning had already become established".
But what did the family mean by "cultural bias"?
It's "all-encompassing", the expert answered. "The manner you eat, how you speak".
He explained the firstborn had absorbed "very nuanced, unspoken signals" from the family, and had adopted their cultural ways. The family informed him they wished to avoid the same situation to happen again with their younger child.
The strategy: To hire a UK tutor, who needs to speak with standard English accent, to guide the baby right from the beginning.
Osmotic Learning
"A lot of the learning at the outset here is somewhat acquired indirectly," explained Adam.
It's via this natural absorption that the family are expecting the child will acquire the English characteristics they aim to impart.
Adam noted the tutor had to be someone who studied at "the right kinds of schools – similar types of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The tutor must be the appropriate candidate, they'll be carrying out things they aren't even aware they're doing, just naturally," he added.
Expense Not a Factor
The family informed him the successful candidate should ideally also have understanding of or enthusiasm in equestrian activities, winter sports, creative fields and instrumental training so as to shape the child in a wide range of hobbies.
Furthermore though, he said the family desired the tutor to enrol the child on a range of courses so the child would be "horseback riding and learning an tool by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's minds, assisting their son develop into a "English gentleman" will lead to accomplishment and open doors.
"For all the pros and cons of that, because it's undoubtedly a social class indicator," he comments.
Yet, notwithstanding all this instruction in "English culture", might the child absorb alleged cultural leaning from the international family he resides with regardless?
"Yes", said he. "They realize this may not work, but they've simply adopted the attitude of, 'let's give it a go and we should start as quickly as we can', because the price of it is not relevant," he stated.
Overly Optimistic
A number of in the private teaching field who share those reservations.
Another CEO, CEO and founder of an educational organization, who provides personal educators, commented that "the journey of adopting dual cultures, or actually, discovering oneself, is something that must be lived into, not manufactured."
He wrote that he had relocated from Asia to the Britain at the time of 7 years old, and had been raised understanding and embodying two backgrounds. He continued to learn at a prestigious UK institution.
"The concept that a single person can act as a embodiment of Britishness, someone who can somehow transfer the attributes of a UK sophisticate upon a one-year-old child, strikes me as idealistic and impractical," he stated.
"In my experience, having a distinctly UK tutor from babyhood will does not instantly produce the outcome they hope for.
"I did not have such a figure, and nevertheless I have been fortunate enough to live numerous of the situations they desire for their son."
He added: "The truth is, cultural identity cannot be dictated from the outside influences; it must be chosen, and it must come from within."
Buying Britishness
Of course, English culture is something the CEO thinks can be instructed – and commercialized.
"I believe the situation that the global community regards us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
