"A family based in north London wants to find an remarkable and experienced tutor to guide their most junior child on his initial journey to growing into an English gentleman."
When reading this post, you might easily skip the term "beginning" as simple figurative language.
However, it might be the most significant part of this unique job advert, as it aims to find a teacher for a 12-month-old.
Many of responses have already been received since the anonymous family advertised their search for the £180k-a-year tutor, who needs to be "someone very special".
During the past few weeks, the advert has gained attention in the press, with many asking why?
Progressive Approach
A tutoring expert, CEO and founder of an education consultancy, which is assisting the family in their quest, stated that despite early skepticism, he found the plan "far sighted", and "innovative".
When he consulted the family, he mentioned they understood the unconventional nature of their request, and how early in age their son is.
Nevertheless, they explained that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had waited until their elder sibling was five, and by that stage "cultural conditioning had already become established".
But what does the family refer to by "cultural leaning"?
It's "everything", the expert responded. "The manner you eat, the way you speak".
He stated the elder child had adopted "really subtle, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had assumed their cultural ways. The family told Adam they did not want the same situation to happen again with their infant.
The strategy: To bring in a British tutor, who should speak with standard English accent, to guide the baby right from the beginning.
Osmotic Learning
"Much of the education at the start here is kind of osmotic," said the CEO.
It's via this osmosis that the family are expecting the child will adopt the English characteristics they wish to instil.
Adam said 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 simply needs to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be doing things they don't even know they're doing, simply by nature," he added.
Money No Object
The family explained to the expert the chosen tutor should ideally also have understanding of or enthusiasm in horse riding, winter sports, the arts and musical activities so as to inspire the child in a broad spectrum of hobbies.
Additionally though, he stated the family wanted the tutor to register the child on a range of courses so the child would be "pony-riding and starting an musical instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's perspective, guiding their son develop into a "UK sophisticate" will result in achievement and open doors.
"Considering the rights and wrongs of that, because it's definitely a class statement," he comments.
But, notwithstanding all this instruction in "English culture", might the child absorb alleged cultural leaning from the international family he lives with regardless?
"Certainly", said he. "The family understand this may not work, but they've merely embraced the attitude of, 'why not attempt it and we'll proceed as quickly as we can', because the cost of it is not a concern," he explained.
Impractical
There are some in the private teaching field who have those reservations.
An education leader, CEO and founder of a tutoring service, who provides individual instructors, wrote that "the development of embracing two identities, or in fact, discovering oneself, is something that must be grown into, not designed."
The expert explained that he had relocated from Asia to the UK at the time of childhood, and had been raised experiencing and practicing dual heritages. He went on to learn at Cambridge University.
"The idea that one individual can function as a representation of UK identity, someone who can in some way transfer the attributes of a UK sophisticate onto a infant child, strikes me as idealistic and impractical," he stated.
"Based on my background, engaging a typically English tutor from infancy will does not automatically produce the goal they desire.
"I wasn't provided with that kind of mentor, and yet I have been privileged enough to experience several of the experiences they hope for their son."
He stated: "The reality is, self-identity can not be dictated from the outside; it must be embraced, and it must be internally driven."
Acquiring Englishness
Certainly, UK identity is something the expert hopes can be instructed – and commercialized.
"In my view the fact that the international society holds us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
