"A family located in North London wants to find an extraordinary and experienced educator to guide their youngest child on his first steps to turning into an British gentleman."
Upon seeing this advertisement, you might easily skip the term "beginning" as mere figurative language.
Yet, it might be the crucial element of this distinctive position posting, as it attempts to find a tutor for a 12-month-old.
Many of responses have since been sent in since the anonymous family posted their request for the £180,000 per year tutor, who needs to be "someone very special".
During the past few weeks, the post has attracted attention across the media, with many wondering why?
Progressive Approach
Adam Caller, CEO and founder of an education consultancy, which is helping the family in their search, explained that notwithstanding early scepticism, he viewed the plan "far sighted", and "progressive".
When he spoke with the family, he noted they appreciated the unconventional character of their requirement, and how early in age their son is.
However, they clarified 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 already become established".
What precisely does the family refer to by "cultural bias"?
It's "everything", Adam responded. "How you eat, how you speak".
He explained the older sibling had picked up "really subtle, unspoken signals" from the family, and had adopted their cultural habits. The family told Adam they did not want this pattern to repeat itself with their new baby.
The plan: To hire a English tutor, who should speak with RP, to guide the baby from day one.
Osmotic Learning
"Much of the education at the start here is kind of acquired indirectly," stated the CEO.
It's via this subtle influence that the family are expecting the child will acquire the UK customs they aim to cultivate.
He noted the tutor needed to be an individual who went to "prestigious academies – similar types of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The educator must be the right kind of person, they'll be performing things they don't even know they're doing, simply by nature," he said.
Cost Not Relevant
The family told the expert the chosen tutor should preferably also have familiarity of or passion in equestrian activities, skiing, creative fields and musical activities so as to shape the child in a broad spectrum of hobbies.
Additionally though, he explained the family desired the tutor to register the child on a selection of classes so the child would be "pony-riding and learning an instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's perspective, assisting their son become a "English gentleman" will lead to success and open doors.
"Considering the pros and cons of that, because it's certainly a status symbol," he comments.
However, in spite of all this instruction in "Britishness", would the child adopt so-called cultural bias from the international family he lives with in any case?
"Absolutely", answered he. "The parents realize this might not succeed, but they've merely embraced the perspective of, 'we should try and let's go as soon as we can', because the expense of it is irrelevant," he explained.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
There are some in the tutoring industry who express those reservations.
Peter Cui, chief executive of a tutoring service, who also offer private tutors, wrote that "the process of becoming bicultural, or actually, becoming oneself, is something that must be lived into, not engineered."
Peter wrote that he had emigrated from Asia to the Britain at the period of seven, and had been brought up understanding and practicing dual heritages. He continued to learn at Cambridge University.
"The concept that an individual can act as a living vessel of Britishness, a person who can in some way impart the attributes of a UK sophisticate onto a 12-month-old child, seems to me naive and impractical," he commented.
"Based on my background, having a distinctly English tutor from early childhood will does not automatically create the outcome they want.
"I never had that kind of mentor, and yet I have been fortunate enough to experience several of the experiences they hope for their son."
He continued: "The reality is, cultural identity cannot be imposed from the external environment; it must be selected, and it must be internally driven."
Purchasing UK Culture
Naturally, Britishness is something Adam believes can be taught – and marketed.
"I think the reality that the global community views us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
