"Parents based in North London is looking for an exceptional and qualified instructor to guide their most junior child on his first steps to turning into an British gentleman."
When reading this advertisement, you might naturally overlook the wording "beginning" as just an expression.
Yet, it may be the crucial part of this unique job advert, as it attempts to find a mentor for a one-year-old.
Hundreds of applications have now been sent in since the unidentified family advertised their call for the £180,000 per year tutor, who needs to be "someone very special".
Over the last few weeks, the advert has received interest across the press, with several questioning why?
Forward-Thinking Method
Adam Caller, head and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is assisting the family in their hunt, said that despite initial skepticism, he viewed the concept "forward-looking", and "innovative".
When he consulted the family, he noted they appreciated the atypical aspect of their requirement, and how young their son is.
However, they explained that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to get a tutor, as they had waited until their older child was five, and by that point "cultural influence had already taken hold".
What exactly did the family refer to by "cultural leaning"?
It's "comprehensive", the expert responded. "How you eat, how you speak".
He explained the older sibling had adopted "extremely delicate, unspoken signals" from the family, and had adopted their cultural ways. The family explained to him they hoped to prevent history to repeat itself with their infant.
The intention: To engage a British tutor, who should speak with RP, to guide the baby from the very start.
Natural Absorption
"A great deal of the learning at the beginning here is rather osmotic," said Adam.
It's by means of this subtle influence that the family are hoping the child will pick up the UK customs they want to cultivate.
Adam noted the tutor needed to be an individual who went to "the right kinds of schools – the same kinds of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The tutor just has to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be performing things they aren't even aware they're doing, just naturally," he commented.
Money No Object
The family explained to Adam the chosen tutor should ideally also have knowledge of or interest in horse riding, skiing, artistic pursuits and music so as to influence the child in a broad spectrum of hobbies.
Additionally though, he said the family desired the tutor to sign up the child on a range of classes so the child would be "equestrian training and learning an musical instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's perspective, assisting their son become a "UK sophisticate" will lead to accomplishment and provide access.
"For all the pros and cons of that, because it's undoubtedly a class statement," he comments.
However, notwithstanding all this tutelage in "English culture", might the child adopt so-called cultural influence from the multicultural family he is raised by anyway?
"Absolutely", replied he. "The family realize this may not work, but they've just taken the attitude of, 'we should try and we'll proceed as early as we can', because the cost of it is not relevant," he stated.
Impractical
There are some in the tutoring industry who have these doubts.
An education leader, chief executive of an educational organization, who also offer personal educators, stated that "the development of becoming bicultural, or actually, discovering oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not engineered."
The expert explained that he had moved from China to the United Kingdom at the age of 7 years old, and had been educated knowing and embodying two backgrounds. He went on to be educated at Cambridge University.
"The concept that one individual can function as a representation of English culture, an individual who can possibly impart the qualities of a British gentleman upon a 12-month-old child, seems to me optimistic and unrealistic," he commented.
"From my perspective, employing a distinctly English tutor from infancy will will not instantly produce the result they desire.
"I never had such a figure, and however I have been privileged enough to live numerous of the experiences they desire for their son."
He stated: "The truth is, personal identity cannot be dictated from the outside; it must be selected, and it must be internally driven."
Purchasing UK Culture
Of course, UK identity is something Adam hopes can be taught – and marketed.
"I think the fact that the global community regards us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
