"A household residing in North London wants to find an exceptional and qualified tutor to support their youngest child on his initial journey to becoming an British gentleman."
Upon seeing this listing, you might naturally miss the term "beginning" as mere a turn of phrase.
Yet, it might be the most significant aspect of this distinctive employment listing, as it seeks to find a mentor for a infant.
Numerous of submissions have since been submitted since the unidentified family published their search for the highly paid tutor, who must be "someone very special".
During the past few weeks, the listing has gained notice throughout the press, with many wondering why?
Innovative Idea
The CEO, chief executive of an education consultancy, which is supporting the family in their hunt, stated that notwithstanding initial skepticism, he found the plan "forward-looking", and "innovative".
When he consulted the family, he said they understood the unusual aspect of their request, and how immature their son is.
Nevertheless, they stated that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had waited until their firstborn was five, and by that point "cultural influence had by then taken hold".
What precisely does the family indicate by "cultural leaning"?
It's "everything", the expert replied. "How you eat, the manner you speak".
He explained the elder child had picked up "really subtle, unspoken signals" from the family, and had assumed their cultural norms. The family told him they wished to avoid this pattern to repeat itself with their younger child.
The intention: To bring in a British tutor, who must speak with standard English accent, to influence the baby from the very start.
Osmotic Learning
"A great deal of the learning at the outset here is rather acquired indirectly," said Adam.
It's by means of this subtle influence that the family are hoping the child will adopt the British traits they aim to impart.
Adam said the tutor needed to be an individual who attended "the appropriate educational institutions – the same kinds of schools as the family plan 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 added.
Money No Object
The family told Adam the successful candidate should preferably also have knowledge of or passion in horse riding, winter sports, creative fields and instrumental training so as to influence the child in a broad spectrum of interests.
More than that though, he stated the family wanted the tutor to sign up the child on a variety of classes so the child would be "equestrian training and starting an musical instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's perspective, guiding their son develop into a "English gentleman" will lead to success and create opportunities.
"Considering the rights and wrongs of that, because it's certainly a social class indicator," he notes.
However, notwithstanding all this guidance in "Britishness", might the child pick up alleged cultural influence from the multicultural family he is raised by in any case?
"Yes", replied the CEO. "The parents understand this might not succeed, but they've merely embraced the attitude of, 'why not attempt it and we should start as quickly as we can', because the expense of it is irrelevant," he said.
Impractical
There are some in the education sector who have similar reservations.
Peter Cui, chief executive of an educational organization, who supplies personal educators, commented that "the process of becoming bicultural, or actually, becoming oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not manufactured."
He wrote that he had emigrated from Asia to the UK at the period of childhood, and had been brought up knowing and living both cultures. He progressed to study at a prestigious UK institution.
"The idea that a single person can act as a embodiment of Britishness, an individual who can in some way transfer the characteristics of a British gentleman upon a 12-month-old child, seems to me optimistic and unrealistic," he wrote.
"In my experience, employing a quintessentially British tutor from babyhood will will not necessarily create the result they want.
"I did not have that kind of mentor, and nevertheless I have been lucky enough to experience several of the opportunities they desire for their son."
He stated: "The reality is, cultural identity can not be dictated from the outside; it must be embraced, and it must be internally driven."
Acquiring Englishness
Naturally, UK identity is something the CEO thinks can be taught – and marketed.
"In my view the reality that the global community holds us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
