"A household based in north London seeks an exceptional and qualified instructor to assist their most junior child on his first steps to becoming an English gentleman."
When reading this advertisement, you might naturally skip the term "beginning" as just figurative language.
However, it might be the crucial aspect of this unique employment listing, as it attempts to recruit a teacher for a infant.
Many of applications have since been submitted since the anonymous family advertised their request for the £180k-a-year tutor, who has to be "someone very special".
In recent few weeks, the post has attracted attention in the media, with many asking why?
Innovative Idea
A tutoring expert, head and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is helping the family in their hunt, stated that despite initial scepticism, he viewed the idea "forward-looking", and "progressive".
When he met the family, he said they understood the unconventional aspect of their demand, and how young their son is.
Nevertheless, they clarified that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had held off until their firstborn was five, and by that stage "cultural influence had already set in".
What exactly does the family mean by "cultural leaning"?
It's "everything", Adam responded. "How you eat, the manner you speak".
He explained the elder child had picked up "really subtle, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had adopted their cultural norms. The family explained to the consultant they did not want this pattern to repeat itself with their infant.
The plan: To hire a British tutor, who must speak with standard English accent, to influence the baby right from the beginning.
Subtle Influence
"A lot of the education at the outset here is rather absorbed naturally," explained the CEO.
It's via this natural absorption that the family are expecting the child will pick up the UK customs they aim to cultivate.
He noted the tutor must be somebody who went to "prestigious academies – similar types of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The instructor just has to be the suitable individual, they'll be performing things they aren't even aware they're doing, simply by nature," he added.
Money No Object
The family explained to Adam the successful candidate should ideally also have understanding of or enthusiasm in riding, skiing, creative fields and instrumental training so as to inspire the child in a diverse set of hobbies.
More than that though, he said the family wanted the tutor to sign up the child on a selection of courses so the child would be "horseback riding and starting an instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's perspective, assisting their son develop into a "UK sophisticate" will result in success and open doors.
"Taking into account the rights and wrongs of that, because it's definitely a status symbol," he comments.
Yet, despite all this instruction in "UK identity", would the child pick up so-called cultural leaning from the international family he lives with regardless?
"Certainly", replied Adam. "They realize this could fail, but they've simply adopted the attitude of, 'why not attempt it and we'll proceed as early as we can', because the price of it is not relevant," he said.
Impractical
Several in the education sector who have those doubts.
Another CEO, chief executive of Blue Education, who also offer personal educators, commented that "the development of adopting dual cultures, or in fact, forming one's identity, is something that must be lived into, not manufactured."
The expert explained that he had emigrated from Asia to the Britain at the time of childhood, and had been educated knowing and embodying two backgrounds. He continued to study at a prestigious UK institution.
"The idea that an individual can serve as a embodiment of English culture, an individual who can in some way transplant the attributes of a British gentleman upon a infant child, strikes me as idealistic and impractical," he stated.
"Based on my background, employing a distinctly UK tutor from infancy will not instantly produce the goal they desire.
"I did not have such a tutor, and nevertheless I have been fortunate enough to enjoy several of the opportunities they hope for their son."
He stated: "The truth is, personal identity should not be dictated from the outside influences; it must be selected, and it must come from within."
Purchasing UK Culture
Of course, UK identity is something the CEO thinks can be taught – and sold.
"In my view the fact that the world holds us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
