"A household residing in north London is looking for an exceptional and skilled instructor to guide their smallest child on his first steps to becoming an British gentleman."
Looking at this listing, you might readily skip the term "beginning" as simple a turn of phrase.
However, it may be the most important part of this distinctive job advert, as it attempts to find a tutor for a one-year-old.
Hundreds of applications have since been submitted since the unnamed family advertised their request for the highly paid tutor, who needs to be "an exceptional individual".
During the past few weeks, the post has received interest in the media, with numerous questioning why?
Forward-Thinking Method
The CEO, chief executive of a global tutoring firm, which is supporting the family in their hunt, said that despite first doubt, he viewed the plan "forward-looking", and "innovative".
When he spoke with the family, he said they recognized the atypical 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 elder sibling was five, and by that age "cultural bias had already become established".
But what did the family indicate by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "all-encompassing", the expert responded. "How you eat, the way you speak".
He said the older sibling had adopted "really subtle, body language" from the family, and had taken on their cultural ways. The family explained to Adam they did not want this pattern to recur with their infant.
The plan: To hire a English tutor, who should speak with Received Pronunciation, to guide the baby from the very start.
Subtle Influence
"A great deal of the development at the start here is kind of acquired indirectly," stated the expert.
It's via this subtle influence that the family are aiming the child will adopt the British traits they aim to instil.
He noted the tutor had to be someone who went to "the appropriate educational institutions – the same kinds of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The educator must be the right kind of person, they'll be carrying out things they may not realize they're doing, simply by nature," he commented.
Expense Not a Factor
The family explained to the expert the successful candidate should preferably also have familiarity of or enthusiasm in equestrian activities, skiing, artistic pursuits and instrumental training so as to shape the child in a diverse set of passions.
Additionally though, he explained the family hoped the tutor to enrol the child on a range of classes so the child would be "equestrian training and picking up an musical instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's minds, helping their son develop into a "English gentleman" will lead to success and create opportunities.
"Considering the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's certainly a class statement," he adds.
Yet, despite all this guidance in "UK identity", would the child absorb alleged cultural leaning from the international family he resides with anyway?
"Absolutely", said he. "The parents know this may not work, but they've merely embraced the perspective of, 'we should try and we'll proceed as quickly as we can', because the price of it is irrelevant," he explained.
Impractical
Several in the private teaching field who have these reservations.
An education leader, head and founder of Blue Education, who supplies private tutors, commented that "the development of becoming bicultural, or indeed, forming one's identity, is something that must be lived into, not designed."
The expert noted that he had relocated from Asia to the UK at the time of childhood, and had been brought up understanding and practicing both cultures. He continued to be educated at the University of Cambridge.
"The notion that one individual can serve as a living vessel of UK identity, an individual who can possibly transfer the characteristics of a UK sophisticate onto a one-year-old child, strikes me as idealistic and impractical," he commented.
"From my perspective, employing a quintessentially UK tutor from early childhood will not automatically achieve the outcome they hope for.
"I never had such a figure, and however I have been fortunate enough to experience several of the experiences they aspire for their son."
He stated: "The reality is, cultural identity cannot be imposed from the external environment; it must be embraced, and it must come from within."
Purchasing UK Culture
Of course, UK identity is something Adam believes can be taught – and marketed.
"I think the fact that the international society holds us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
