"Parents based in the northern part of London is looking for an remarkable and skilled instructor to assist their most junior child on his initial journey to becoming an English gentleman."
Upon seeing this listing, you might readily miss the wording "beginning" as simple a turn of phrase.
But, it might be the crucial part of this unusual position posting, as it aims to recruit a tutor for a one-year-old.
Many of applications have since been submitted since the unidentified family posted their request for the £180,000 per year tutor, who needs to be "a uniquely qualified person".
During the past few weeks, the advert has gained attention throughout the media, with numerous questioning why?
Progressive Approach
A tutoring expert, CEO and founder of an education consultancy, which is helping the family in their hunt, said that despite early skepticism, he viewed the plan "far sighted", and "progressive".
When he met the family, he noted they appreciated the atypical character of their requirement, and how early in age their son is.
Nevertheless, they clarified that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had waited until their firstborn was five, and by that age "cultural influence had by then taken hold".
But what did the family refer to by "cultural leaning"?
It's "everything", he responded. "The manner you eat, the manner you speak".
He said the elder child had picked up "very nuanced, unspoken signals" from the family, and had adopted their cultural norms. The family told him they hoped to prevent this pattern to recur with their younger child.
The strategy: To bring in a English tutor, who must speak with standard English accent, to shape the baby right from the beginning.
Osmotic Learning
"A lot of the development at the beginning here is rather acquired indirectly," said Adam.
It's by means of this subtle influence that the family are expecting the child will acquire the British traits they want to cultivate.
Adam explained the tutor must be someone who attended "the right kinds of schools – similar types of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The tutor simply needs to be the suitable individual, they'll be carrying out things they aren't even aware they're doing, effortlessly," he added.
Expense Not a Factor
The family explained to the expert the selected educator should preferably also have knowledge of or interest in horse riding, winter sports, artistic pursuits and musical activities so as to influence the child in a wide range of passions.
More than that though, he explained the family wanted the tutor to register the child on a variety of lessons so the child would be "pony-riding and learning an tool by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's minds, assisting their son become a "British gentleman" will result in success and open doors.
"Considering the rights and wrongs of that, because it's undoubtedly a status symbol," he notes.
However, notwithstanding all this tutelage in "UK identity", would the child pick up what is termed cultural bias from the multicultural family he resides with anyway?
"Certainly", said the CEO. "The family understand this could fail, but they've merely embraced the perspective of, 'we should try and we'll proceed as quickly as we can', because the price of it is not a concern," he explained.
Overly Optimistic
Several in the private teaching field who share similar doubts.
Peter Cui, CEO and founder of Blue Education, who supplies personal educators, commented that "the development of becoming bicultural, or indeed, discovering oneself, is something that must be lived into, not engineered."
Peter wrote that he had relocated from China to the United Kingdom at the period of 7 years old, and had been brought up understanding and living dual heritages. He continued to learn at the University of Cambridge.
"The notion that a single person can act as a representation of English culture, a person who can possibly transplant the qualities of a UK sophisticate upon a 12-month-old child, strikes me as naive and impractical," he wrote.
"In my experience, engaging a distinctly English tutor from babyhood will does not automatically produce the goal they hope for.
"I wasn't provided with such a figure, and however I have been privileged enough to live many of the situations they aspire for their son."
He continued: "The fact is, personal identity can not be dictated from the external environment; it must be chosen, and it must be internally driven."
Purchasing UK Culture
Certainly, English culture is something Adam thinks can be taught – and marketed.
"In my view the fact that the international society holds us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
