"A family based in north London seeks an exceptional and skilled educator to guide their smallest child on his initial journey to turning into an English gentleman."
Looking at this advertisement, you might readily overlook the term "beginning" as mere a turn of phrase.
However, it could be the most significant element of this unique position posting, as it aims to recruit a teacher for a infant.
Hundreds of responses have already been submitted since the unnamed family posted their search for the highly paid tutor, who must be "someone very special".
In recent few weeks, the advert has attracted notice across the press, with several questioning why?
Innovative Idea
A tutoring expert, head and founder of an education consultancy, which is helping the family in their hunt, said that in spite of initial doubt, he considered the concept "visionary", and "innovative".
When he consulted the family, he noted they understood the unusual aspect of their request, and how young their son is.
However, they stated that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had postponed until their firstborn was five, and by that age "cultural bias had already taken hold".
But what does the family indicate by "cultural bias"?
It's "all-encompassing", he answered. "The manner you eat, the manner you speak".
He stated the elder child had absorbed "extremely delicate, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had taken on their cultural norms. The family explained to him they did not want the same situation to recur with their younger child.
The strategy: To hire a British tutor, who should speak with standard English accent, to guide the baby from day one.
Osmotic Learning
"Much of the education at the beginning here is kind of absorbed naturally," explained Adam.
It's through this natural absorption that the family are aiming the child will acquire the English characteristics they aim to cultivate.
The consultant said the tutor had to be an individual who attended "the appropriate educational institutions – comparable categories of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The instructor must be the suitable individual, they'll be carrying out things they aren't even aware they're doing, effortlessly," he said.
Money No Object
The family told Adam the successful candidate should ideally also have knowledge of or interest in equestrian activities, winter sports, the arts and music so as to shape the child in a broad spectrum of interests.
Furthermore though, he stated the family desired the tutor to enrol the child on a selection of lessons so the child would be "horseback riding and picking up an musical instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's perspective, assisting their son become a "UK sophisticate" will result in success and open doors.
"Considering the pros and cons of that, because it's undoubtedly a status symbol," he adds.
Yet, notwithstanding all this instruction in "English culture", could the child absorb so-called cultural bias from the globally influenced family he resides with in any case?
"Absolutely", replied he. "The parents understand this might not succeed, but they've simply adopted the view of, 'let's give it a go and let's go as quickly as we can', because the expense of it is irrelevant," he stated.
Impractical
There are some in the tutoring industry who have those doubts.
Another CEO, head and founder of Blue Education, who provides individual instructors, stated that "the process of adopting dual cultures, or in fact, becoming oneself, is something that must be lived into, not manufactured."
The expert wrote that he had moved from China to the UK at the period of seven, and had been educated understanding and living dual heritages. He went on to learn at Cambridge University.
"The concept that an individual can act as a representation of Britishness, an individual who can in some way impart the qualities of a English gentleman upon a one-year-old child, appears idealistic and impractical," he wrote.
"Based on my background, having a distinctly British tutor from infancy will does not instantly create the outcome they want.
"I never had such a tutor, and however I have been fortunate enough to experience many of the opportunities they aspire for their son."
He added: "The fact is, self-identity can not be dictated from the outside influences; it must be chosen, and it must come from within."
Acquiring Englishness
Certainly, Britishness is something the expert believes can be taught – and sold.
"I think the fact that the international society views us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
