"Parents residing in the northern part of London seeks an remarkable and experienced instructor to support their most junior child on his initial journey to becoming an British gentleman."
When reading this advertisement, you might naturally skip the phrase "beginning" as mere figurative language.
However, it might be the most significant part of this unusual employment listing, as it aims to recruit a teacher for a infant.
Hundreds of submissions have already been sent in since the unidentified family published their request for the highly paid tutor, who has to be "someone very special".
Over the last few weeks, the advert has attracted attention across the media, with numerous wondering why?
Innovative Idea
Adam Caller, head and founder of an education consultancy, which is helping the family in their quest, said that notwithstanding first doubt, he considered the concept "far sighted", and "progressive".
When he met the family, he said they appreciated the unusual aspect of their demand, and how early in age their son is.
But, they clarified 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 age "cultural bias had by then become established".
What precisely does the family refer to by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "comprehensive", he responded. "The manner you eat, how you speak".
He explained the elder child had absorbed "very nuanced, unspoken signals" from the family, and had taken on their cultural ways. The family told Adam they wished to avoid this pattern to recur with their younger child.
The plan: To engage a English tutor, who should speak with standard English accent, to guide the baby right from the beginning.
Osmotic Learning
"A lot of the development at the outset here is somewhat absorbed naturally," stated the CEO.
It's by means of this osmosis that the family are expecting the child will pick up the British traits they aim to instil.
Adam said the tutor must be somebody who went to "prestigious academies – similar types of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The instructor just has to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be doing things they aren't even aware they're doing, effortlessly," he commented.
Cost Not Relevant
The family informed Adam the chosen tutor should ideally also have understanding of or enthusiasm in horse riding, alpine skiing, creative fields and musical activities so as to inspire the child in a wide range of hobbies.
Additionally though, he stated the family wanted the tutor to register the child on a selection of courses so the child would be "pony-riding and picking up an instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's minds, helping their son grow into a "English gentleman" will lead to achievement and open doors.
"Taking into account the rights and wrongs of that, because it's certainly a status symbol," he comments.
Yet, notwithstanding all this guidance in "Britishness", could the child absorb so-called cultural influence from the multicultural family he lives with anyway?
"Certainly", replied Adam. "They realize this could fail, but they've merely embraced the view of, 'why not attempt it and let's go as early as we can', because the cost of it is not a concern," he said.
Overly Optimistic
There are some in the private teaching field who share these doubts.
Peter Cui, CEO and founder of a tutoring service, who also offer individual instructors, commented that "the development of embracing two identities, or actually, forming one's identity, is something that must be experienced personally, not engineered."
Peter wrote that he had emigrated from Asia to the UK at the age of seven, and had been educated understanding and embodying both cultures. He progressed to be educated at Cambridge University.
"The idea that an individual can function as a embodiment of English culture, someone who can possibly transfer the characteristics of a UK sophisticate upon a infant child, appears naive and unrealistic," he commented.
"Based on my background, having a typically English tutor from early childhood will will not automatically produce the result they desire.
"I did not have such a figure, and yet I have been privileged enough to enjoy many of the situations they aspire for their son."
He stated: "The reality is, self-identity can not be forced from the outside influences; it must be embraced, and it must originate internally."
Buying Britishness
Of course, Britishness is something the CEO thinks can be instructed – and sold.
"In my view the reality that the world holds us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
