"A family located in North London is looking for an extraordinary and experienced tutor to assist their smallest child on his first steps to growing into an English gentleman."
Looking at this listing, you might easily skip the phrase "beginning" as just a turn of phrase.
Yet, it might be the crucial element of this unique employment listing, as it aims to recruit a tutor for a infant.
Hundreds of submissions have since been received since the anonymous family advertised their request for the £180,000 per year tutor, who needs to be "a uniquely qualified person".
Over the last few weeks, the listing has gained attention across the press, with numerous wondering why?
Progressive Approach
A tutoring expert, chief executive of Tutors International, which is assisting the family in their quest, explained that in spite of initial doubt, he viewed the plan "visionary", and "advanced".
When he consulted the family, he said they understood the atypical character of their demand, and how immature their son is.
But, they explained that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had postponed until their firstborn was five, and by that point "cultural influence had already become established".
But what did the family indicate by "cultural bias"?
It's "all-encompassing", Adam responded. "How you eat, the way you speak".
He explained the firstborn had picked up "very nuanced, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had assumed their cultural norms. The family informed the consultant they wished to avoid history to repeat itself with their infant.
The intention: To engage a English tutor, who needs to speak with standard English accent, to influence the baby right from the beginning.
Subtle Influence
"A lot of the education at the start here is kind of osmotic," stated Adam.
It's through this natural absorption that the family are hoping the child will acquire the English characteristics they want to instil.
The consultant explained the tutor must be an individual who attended "the right kinds of schools – similar types of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The educator just has to be the right kind of person, they'll be doing things they aren't even aware they're doing, effortlessly," he commented.
Money No Object
The family informed him the chosen tutor should preferably also have understanding of or enthusiasm in horse riding, winter sports, creative fields and music so as to influence the child in a broad spectrum of hobbies.
More than that though, he said the family wanted the tutor to sign up the child on a range of lessons so the child would be "pony-riding and starting an instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's view, helping their son grow into a "UK sophisticate" will result in accomplishment and open doors.
"Considering the rights and wrongs of that, because it's undoubtedly a social class indicator," he adds.
Yet, despite all this guidance in "English culture", might the child absorb alleged cultural bias from the multicultural family he resides with anyway?
"Certainly", replied he. "The family know this might not succeed, but they've just taken the view of, 'we should try and we'll proceed as early as we can', because the cost of it is not a concern," he explained.
Impractical
There are some in the education sector who express these concerns.
Peter Cui, chief executive of a tutoring service, who supplies individual instructors, stated that "the development of embracing two identities, or actually, discovering oneself, is something that must be lived into, not manufactured."
He noted that he had moved from the Far East to the Britain at the time of seven, and had been raised knowing and practicing both cultures. He continued to be educated at the University of Cambridge.
"The notion that one individual can function as a representation of English culture, a person who can somehow impart the characteristics of a UK sophisticate onto a infant child, appears optimistic and impractical," he stated.
"In my experience, having a quintessentially UK tutor from infancy will will not necessarily produce the outcome they hope for.
"I wasn't provided with such a tutor, and nevertheless I have been lucky enough to enjoy several of the opportunities they desire for their son."
He stated: "The fact is, personal identity cannot be forced from the external environment; it must be embraced, and it must be internally driven."
Acquiring Englishness
Naturally, UK identity is something the expert hopes can be taught – and sold.
"I believe the fact that the world regards us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
