"A household residing in North London wants to find an extraordinary and skilled tutor to support their youngest child on his early path to growing into an British gentleman."
Upon seeing this post, you might naturally skip the phrase "beginning" as simple figurative language.
But, it might be the crucial element of this unusual employment listing, as it aims to find a teacher for a 12-month-old.
Hundreds of applications have now been sent in since the unidentified family posted their search for the highly paid tutor, who needs to be "someone very special".
In recent few weeks, the post has attracted interest in the news, with many questioning why?
Progressive Approach
A tutoring expert, chief executive of an education consultancy, which is supporting the family in their hunt, said that despite initial scepticism, he considered the plan "far sighted", and "progressive".
When he met the family, he said they understood the unconventional nature of their requirement, and how young their son is.
Nevertheless, they stated that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had postponed 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 bias"?
It's "everything", Adam answered. "The way you eat, how you speak".
He explained the elder child had absorbed "very nuanced, body language" from the family, and had assumed their cultural norms. The family informed him they wished to avoid the same situation to repeat itself with their new baby.
The intention: To engage a English tutor, who needs to speak with standard English accent, to shape the baby right from the beginning.
Osmotic Learning
"Much of the learning at the outset here is somewhat acquired indirectly," stated Adam.
It's via this osmosis that the family are expecting the child will pick up the English characteristics they wish to cultivate.
Adam noted the tutor must be someone who studied at "the appropriate educational institutions – similar types of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The educator simply needs to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be doing things they don't even know they're doing, effortlessly," he said.
Expense Not a Factor
The family explained to Adam the selected educator should ideally also have knowledge of or passion in equestrian activities, alpine skiing, artistic pursuits and music so as to inspire the child in a wide range of passions.
Furthermore though, he explained the family hoped the tutor to enrol the child on a variety of classes so the child would be "pony-riding and starting an tool by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's minds, helping their son become a "British gentleman" will lead to accomplishment and provide access.
"For all the rights and wrongs of that, because it's certainly a status symbol," he notes.
Yet, in spite of all this instruction in "UK identity", could the child pick up so-called cultural influence from the multicultural family he is raised by in any case?
"Yes", answered Adam. "The family realize this may not work, but they've just taken the view of, 'why not attempt it and we should start as early as we can', because the price of it is not relevant," he said.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
There are some in the tutoring industry who have similar doubts.
Another CEO, CEO and founder of a tutoring service, who also offer personal educators, wrote that "the process of becoming bicultural, or actually, becoming oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not manufactured."
Peter wrote that he had moved from the Far East to the UK at the period of seven, and had been raised knowing and practicing both cultures. He continued to study at the University of Cambridge.
"The notion that a single person can function as a representation of UK identity, a person who can somehow transplant the attributes of a English gentleman to a 12-month-old child, strikes me as naive and impractical," he wrote.
"In my experience, employing a distinctly British tutor from babyhood will does not necessarily produce the goal they desire.
"I never had that kind of mentor, and however I have been fortunate enough to enjoy numerous of the opportunities they desire for their son."
He added: "The fact is, cultural identity should not be forced from the external environment; it must be chosen, and it must originate internally."
Buying Britishness
Certainly, English culture is something Adam believes can be instructed – and commercialized.
"I believe the reality that the global community holds us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
