"A household based in North London seeks an exceptional and experienced instructor to support their youngest child on his first steps to growing into an English gentleman."
Looking at this post, you might readily skip the wording "beginning" as just a turn of phrase.
Yet, it could be the crucial element of this distinctive employment listing, as it aims to recruit a tutor for a one-year-old.
Hundreds of applications have now been sent in since the anonymous family posted their search for the highly paid tutor, who has to be "an exceptional individual".
In recent few weeks, the post has attracted attention throughout the news, with numerous wondering why?
Forward-Thinking Method
A tutoring expert, chief executive of a global tutoring firm, which is helping the family in their search, stated that despite initial skepticism, he viewed the idea "far sighted", and "advanced".
When he met the family, he said they recognized the unusual nature of their request, and how early in age their son is.
However, they explained that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to get a tutor, as they had postponed until their firstborn was five, and by that stage "cultural bias had already set in".
What precisely does the family indicate by "cultural bias"?
It's "all-encompassing", the expert replied. "The manner you eat, how you speak".
He stated the firstborn had absorbed "extremely delicate, unspoken signals" from the family, and had adopted their cultural norms. The family told Adam they did not want the same situation to repeat itself with their new baby.
The strategy: To hire a British tutor, who should speak with RP, to guide the baby from the very start.
Subtle Influence
"Much of the education at the beginning here is somewhat absorbed naturally," explained the CEO.
It's by means of this osmosis that the family are hoping the child will pick up the British traits they wish to cultivate.
Adam noted the tutor needed to be somebody who studied at "the right kinds of schools – the same kinds of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The tutor must be the suitable individual, they'll be performing things they don't even know they're doing, just naturally," he added.
Money No Object
The family informed him the chosen tutor should ideally also have understanding of or passion in horse riding, skiing, artistic pursuits and musical activities so as to inspire the child in a wide range of interests.
Additionally though, he stated the family hoped the tutor to sign up the child on a range of classes so the child would be "equestrian training and picking up an tool by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's minds, assisting their son grow into a "British gentleman" will bring about achievement and open doors.
"For all the rights and wrongs of that, because it's undoubtedly a social class indicator," he notes.
Yet, in spite of all this guidance in "English culture", might the child pick up what is termed cultural bias from the multicultural family he is raised by anyway?
"Certainly", replied the CEO. "The family know this could fail, but they've simply adopted the attitude of, 'why not attempt it and we should start as early as we can', because the price of it is not a concern," he stated.
Impractical
Several in the tutoring industry who have similar reservations.
Another CEO, CEO and founder of an educational organization, who also offer individual instructors, stated that "the process of becoming bicultural, or indeed, forming one's identity, is something that must be experienced personally, not manufactured."
Peter explained that he had relocated from Asia to the United Kingdom at the time of 7 years old, and had been educated knowing and living dual heritages. He continued to learn at the University of Cambridge.
"The concept that an individual can serve as a representation of UK identity, someone who can somehow transplant the attributes of a British gentleman to a one-year-old child, appears optimistic and unfeasible," he commented.
"In my experience, having a typically English tutor from babyhood will does not instantly achieve the result they want.
"I never had that kind of mentor, and nevertheless I have been lucky enough to experience many of the opportunities they aspire for their son."
He stated: "The fact is, personal identity cannot be forced from the outside; it must be embraced, and it must be internally driven."
Purchasing UK Culture
Of course, UK identity is something Adam hopes can be instructed – and sold.
"I think the fact that the international society regards us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
