"A household based in the northern part of London wants to find an extraordinary and qualified instructor to guide their smallest child on his early path to growing into an English gentleman."
When reading this advertisement, you might readily miss the wording "beginning" as mere a turn of phrase.
Yet, it may be the most significant part of this unusual employment listing, as it seeks to find a teacher for a 12-month-old.
Hundreds of applications have since been submitted since the anonymous family published their call for the highly paid tutor, who has to be "someone very special".
During the past few weeks, the post has received interest in the news, with many wondering why?
Progressive Approach
A tutoring expert, chief executive of an education consultancy, which is supporting the family in their hunt, said that in spite of first skepticism, he considered the plan "visionary", and "progressive".
When he consulted the family, he mentioned they recognized the atypical character of their request, and how immature their son is.
However, they stated that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to get a tutor, as they had held off until their firstborn was five, and by that age "cultural influence had already taken hold".
What exactly did the family mean by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "comprehensive", Adam answered. "The manner you eat, the manner you speak".
He said the older sibling had adopted "very nuanced, unspoken signals" from the family, and had assumed their cultural habits. The family told Adam they wished to avoid history to happen again with their new baby.
The strategy: To bring in a UK tutor, who should speak with standard English accent, to shape the baby from day one.
Subtle Influence
"A lot of the education at the beginning here is somewhat acquired indirectly," stated the CEO.
It's via this subtle influence that the family are expecting the child will acquire the English characteristics they wish to impart.
Adam said the tutor needed to be an individual who studied at "prestigious academies – comparable categories of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The instructor must be the right kind of person, they'll be performing things they don't even know they're doing, just naturally," he said.
Expense Not a Factor
The family told the expert the successful candidate should ideally also have knowledge of or passion in riding, skiing, the arts and musical activities so as to inspire the child in a wide range of hobbies.
Additionally though, he stated the family hoped the tutor to enrol the child on a variety of courses so the child would be "equestrian training and learning an musical instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's minds, helping their son develop into a "English gentleman" will result in success and provide access.
"For all the pros and cons of that, because it's undoubtedly a class statement," he adds.
However, in spite of all this instruction in "English culture", could the child pick up so-called cultural leaning from the international family he is raised by anyway?
"Yes", said the CEO. "The parents understand this could fail, but they've merely embraced the perspective of, 'why not attempt it and let's go as quickly as we can', because the expense of it is not a concern," he explained.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
There are some in the education sector who express those doubts.
Peter Cui, chief executive of a tutoring service, who provides personal educators, wrote that "the journey of adopting dual cultures, or in fact, discovering oneself, is something that must be lived into, not manufactured."
Peter noted that he had moved from China to the United Kingdom at the period of childhood, and had been raised knowing and embodying dual heritages. He progressed to learn at the University of Cambridge.
"The concept that one individual can serve as a living vessel of UK identity, someone who can possibly transfer the attributes of a English gentleman to a 12-month-old child, seems to me idealistic and unfeasible," he wrote.
"Based on my background, having a typically English tutor from babyhood will does not automatically create the result they want.
"I did not have such a tutor, and nevertheless I have been privileged enough to live many of the situations they hope for their son."
He added: "The truth is, cultural identity cannot be forced from the outside influences; it must be selected, and it must be internally driven."
Buying Britishness
Certainly, English culture is something Adam thinks can be instructed – and sold.
"I believe the situation that the global community regards us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
