"A household based in north London is looking for an extraordinary and skilled educator to assist their youngest child on his first steps to growing into an British gentleman."
Upon seeing this advertisement, you might easily skip the wording "beginning" as mere a turn of phrase.
However, it might be the crucial element of this distinctive employment listing, as it seeks to find a tutor for a infant.
Hundreds of applications have already been received since the unnamed family posted their request for the £180,000 per year tutor, who needs to be "a uniquely qualified person".
Over the last few weeks, the advert has received attention across the press, with many asking why?
Progressive Approach
The CEO, head and founder of an education consultancy, which is assisting the family in their search, explained that in spite of early scepticism, he considered the concept "visionary", and "innovative".
When he consulted the family, he mentioned they appreciated the unusual nature of their requirement, and how early in age 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 point "cultural influence had by then become established".
But what did the family refer to by "cultural bias"?
It's "everything", he replied. "How you eat, the manner you speak".
He said the elder child had absorbed "extremely delicate, body language" from the family, and had adopted their cultural norms. The family told Adam they did not want history to recur with their younger child.
The intention: To engage a English tutor, who needs to speak with standard English accent, to influence the baby from day one.
Subtle Influence
"A lot of the education at the outset here is kind of acquired indirectly," explained the expert.
It's via this subtle influence that the family are hoping the child will pick up the UK customs they wish to cultivate.
He noted the tutor must be somebody who attended "the appropriate educational institutions – similar types of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The tutor just has to be the right kind of person, they'll be doing things they aren't even aware they're doing, simply by nature," he commented.
Money No Object
The family explained to the expert the successful candidate should ideally also have understanding of or interest in horse riding, winter sports, the arts and instrumental training so as to shape the child in a wide range of interests.
Additionally though, he said the family hoped the tutor to sign up the child on a selection of classes 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 view, helping their son develop into a "English gentleman" will result in accomplishment and provide access.
"For all the pros and cons of that, because it's undoubtedly a class statement," he notes.
However, notwithstanding all this tutelage in "UK identity", might the child pick up so-called cultural bias from the international family he resides with regardless?
"Yes", answered Adam. "They realize this may not work, but they've just taken the attitude of, 'why not attempt it and let's go as quickly as we can', because the cost of it is irrelevant," he said.
Overly Optimistic
There are some in the education sector who have those doubts.
Peter Cui, CEO and founder of an educational organization, who supplies individual instructors, commented that "the process of embracing two identities, or actually, forming one's identity, is something that must be lived into, not manufactured."
The expert explained that he had moved from Asia to the United Kingdom at the time of seven, and had been brought up experiencing and practicing both cultures. He progressed to learn at the University of Cambridge.
"The concept that an individual can function as a representation of UK identity, someone who can somehow transfer the attributes of a English gentleman to a infant child, seems to me optimistic and unrealistic," he wrote.
"In my experience, having a distinctly UK tutor from infancy will not automatically achieve the goal they want.
"I never had that kind of mentor, and nevertheless I have been lucky enough to enjoy many of the opportunities they hope for their son."
He continued: "The truth is, cultural identity cannot be imposed from the outside; it must be selected, and it must come from within."
Buying Britishness
Of course, Britishness is something the expert believes can be taught – and sold.
"I think the situation that the world holds us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
