"A household residing in north London wants to find an extraordinary and skilled instructor to guide their youngest child on his early path to becoming an English gentleman."
When reading this listing, you might easily overlook the phrase "beginning" as just figurative language.
Yet, it may be the crucial element of this unusual employment listing, as it attempts to hire a mentor for a one-year-old.
Hundreds of submissions have now been sent in since the unidentified family published their search for the £180k-a-year tutor, who needs to be "an exceptional individual".
During the past few weeks, the listing has attracted notice across the news, with several questioning why?
Progressive Approach
The CEO, CEO and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is helping the family in their search, explained that in spite of first skepticism, he considered the concept "far sighted", and "advanced".
When he consulted the family, he noted they recognized the unusual aspect of their requirement, and how young their son is.
However, they stated that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had waited until their elder sibling was five, and by that point "cultural bias had already become established".
What exactly did the family indicate by "cultural leaning"?
It's "all-encompassing", Adam answered. "How you eat, how you speak".
He stated the firstborn had adopted "extremely delicate, body language" from the family, and had adopted their cultural ways. The family told him they hoped to prevent this pattern to repeat itself with their infant.
The plan: To bring in a UK tutor, who needs to speak with Received Pronunciation, to influence the baby from day one.
Subtle Influence
"A lot of the education at the start here is rather osmotic," explained the expert.
It's via this subtle influence that the family are expecting the child will pick up the British traits they wish to impart.
He said the tutor must be somebody who studied at "the right kinds of schools – comparable categories of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The instructor must be the suitable individual, they'll be doing things they may not realize they're doing, effortlessly," he commented.
Money No Object
The family explained to him the successful candidate should ideally also have understanding of or enthusiasm in equestrian activities, skiing, creative fields and music so as to influence the child in a wide range of interests.
More than that though, he explained the family wanted the tutor to enrol the child on a variety of courses so the child would be "pony-riding and starting an musical instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's minds, guiding their son develop into a "English gentleman" will bring about achievement and create opportunities.
"Taking into account the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's definitely a class statement," he comments.
But, despite all this instruction in "UK identity", might the child adopt so-called cultural influence from the globally influenced family he resides with anyway?
"Certainly", said the CEO. "They know this may not work, but they've merely embraced the attitude of, 'why not attempt it and we'll proceed as soon as we can', because the expense of it is not a concern," he said.
Overly Optimistic
Several in the education sector who have similar reservations.
An education leader, chief executive of an educational organization, who supplies personal educators, wrote that "the journey of embracing two identities, or actually, becoming oneself, is something that must be grown into, not manufactured."
He wrote that he had moved from China to the Britain at the period of 7 years old, and had been educated understanding and embodying both cultures. He progressed to learn at a prestigious UK institution.
"The concept that one individual can serve as a living vessel of Britishness, a person who can possibly transfer the attributes of a UK sophisticate onto a 12-month-old child, strikes me as idealistic and impractical," he commented.
"From my perspective, engaging a distinctly English tutor from early childhood will not instantly produce the outcome they hope for.
"I did not have such a figure, and however I have been fortunate enough to enjoy numerous of the experiences they hope for their son."
He stated: "The truth is, cultural identity should not be forced from the external environment; it must be embraced, and it must come from within."
Purchasing UK Culture
Of course, UK identity is something the expert believes can be instructed – and marketed.
"I think the situation that the international society views us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
