"Parents based in the northern part of London wants to find an exceptional and experienced instructor to guide their most junior child on his early path to becoming an British gentleman."
Looking at this advertisement, you might readily miss the wording "beginning" as simple a turn of phrase.
However, it might be the crucial part of this unusual job advert, as it seeks to recruit a tutor for a 12-month-old.
Hundreds of responses have since been submitted since the anonymous family advertised their request for the highly paid tutor, who must be "someone very special".
In recent few weeks, the advert has gained interest in the media, with numerous asking why?
Progressive Approach
The CEO, CEO and founder of Tutors International, which is assisting the family in their search, said that notwithstanding early doubt, he found the plan "far sighted", and "advanced".
When he consulted the family, he mentioned they recognized the unconventional nature of their requirement, and how early in age their son is.
But, they explained that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had postponed until their elder sibling was five, and by that point "cultural conditioning had already become established".
What exactly does the family mean by "cultural bias"?
It's "everything", the expert replied. "How you eat, the manner you speak".
He said the firstborn had absorbed "extremely delicate, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had adopted their cultural ways. The family informed him they did not want the same situation to recur with their younger child.
The intention: To hire a UK tutor, who needs to speak with standard English accent, to guide the baby from day one.
Natural Absorption
"A great deal of the education at the outset here is kind of osmotic," explained the expert.
It's via this natural absorption that the family are aiming the child will pick up the UK customs they want to impart.
The consultant noted the tutor needed to be somebody 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 right kind of person, they'll be doing things they aren't even aware they're doing, effortlessly," he added.
Cost Not Relevant
The family informed the expert the chosen tutor should ideally also have familiarity of or enthusiasm in riding, alpine skiing, artistic pursuits and instrumental training so as to influence the child in a wide range of hobbies.
Furthermore though, he said the family hoped the tutor to enrol the child on a variety of classes so the child would be "equestrian training and starting an musical instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's view, assisting their son develop into a "English gentleman" will bring about accomplishment and create opportunities.
"Considering the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's undoubtedly a status symbol," he notes.
But, notwithstanding all this instruction in "English culture", would the child absorb alleged cultural leaning from the international family he lives with regardless?
"Yes", said the CEO. "The parents realize this could fail, but they've simply adopted the perspective of, 'let's give it a go and we should start as soon as we can', because the cost of it is not relevant," he stated.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
Several in the private teaching field who express similar doubts.
Peter Cui, CEO and founder of an educational organization, who also offer private tutors, wrote that "the process of becoming bicultural, or indeed, forming one's identity, is something that must be grown into, not engineered."
Peter wrote that he had moved from China to the United Kingdom at the age of seven, and had been brought up experiencing and embodying two backgrounds. He went on to learn at Cambridge University.
"The idea that an individual can act as a living vessel of Britishness, an individual who can in some way transfer the qualities of a UK sophisticate onto a infant child, seems to me naive and unfeasible," he stated.
"From my perspective, employing a typically English tutor from early childhood will does not instantly create the result they hope for.
"I did not have such a tutor, and yet I have been privileged enough to live numerous of the situations they desire for their son."
He added: "The fact is, personal identity can not be dictated from the outside influences; it must be chosen, and it must come from within."
Buying Britishness
Naturally, UK identity is something the expert believes can be taught – and marketed.
"I think the reality that the world regards us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
