"Parents residing in the northern part of London wants to find an exceptional and qualified educator to assist their smallest child on his initial journey to becoming an English gentleman."
When reading this advertisement, you might readily miss the phrase "beginning" as simple figurative language.
But, it might be the most significant aspect of this unusual position posting, as it seeks to find a teacher for a 12-month-old.
Numerous of applications have already been sent in since the anonymous family posted their request for the £180k-a-year tutor, who has to be "an exceptional individual".
Over the last few weeks, the advert has received attention across the media, with several questioning why?
Innovative Idea
The CEO, head and founder of Tutors International, which is assisting the family in their quest, stated that despite early scepticism, he considered the plan "far sighted", and "innovative".
When he met the family, he noted they recognized the unconventional aspect of their request, and how early in age their son is.
Nevertheless, they explained that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had waited until their older child was five, and by that point "cultural bias had by then become established".
What precisely did the family indicate by "cultural bias"?
It's "comprehensive", Adam responded. "How you eat, how you speak".
He stated the elder child had absorbed "really subtle, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had assumed their cultural habits. The family told the consultant they did not want the same situation to happen again with their infant.
The intention: To engage a English tutor, who should speak with standard English accent, to influence the baby right from the beginning.
Subtle Influence
"Much of the learning at the start here is kind of absorbed naturally," explained the CEO.
It's by means of this osmosis that the family are aiming the child will acquire the English characteristics they aim to cultivate.
Adam explained the tutor must be an individual who went to "the right kinds of schools – the same kinds of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The instructor just has to be the suitable individual, they'll be performing things they aren't even aware they're doing, simply by nature," he commented.
Expense Not a Factor
The family explained to the expert the chosen tutor should preferably also have understanding of or passion in equestrian activities, winter sports, artistic pursuits and instrumental training so as to influence the child in a broad spectrum of hobbies.
Furthermore though, he said the family wanted the tutor to register the child on a variety of lessons 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, helping their son grow into a "UK sophisticate" will result in success and provide access.
"For all the rights and wrongs of that, because it's definitely a status symbol," he notes.
But, despite all this tutelage in "English culture", could the child adopt so-called cultural influence from the globally influenced family he resides with regardless?
"Yes", answered he. "They understand this may not work, but they've simply adopted the attitude of, 'let's give it a go and let's go as soon as we can', because the cost of it is irrelevant," he said.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
There are some in the education sector who share those doubts.
Peter Cui, chief executive of a tutoring service, who also offer personal educators, stated that "the journey of embracing two identities, or in fact, becoming oneself, is something that must be lived into, not engineered."
Peter wrote that he had moved from China to the Britain at the time of seven, and had been raised knowing and living dual heritages. He continued to be educated at the University of Cambridge.
"The notion that an individual can function as a living vessel of Britishness, someone who can in some way transplant the attributes of a UK sophisticate to a 12-month-old child, appears idealistic and unrealistic," he wrote.
"In my experience, having a quintessentially British tutor from early childhood will does not necessarily achieve the outcome they hope for.
"I wasn't provided with such a figure, and yet I have been fortunate enough to live many of the opportunities they hope for their son."
He stated: "The truth is, self-identity can not be forced from the outside; it must be chosen, and it must originate internally."
Buying Britishness
Of course, Britishness is something the expert thinks can be educated – and commercialized.
"In my view the fact that the international society holds us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
