"A family located in the northern part of London wants to find an exceptional and qualified instructor to guide their youngest child on his first steps to growing into an British gentleman."
Looking at this post, you might easily skip the term "beginning" as mere a turn of phrase.
However, it could be the crucial part of this unusual employment listing, as it aims to recruit a teacher for a one-year-old.
Hundreds of applications have since been received since the anonymous family posted their search for the highly paid tutor, who needs to be "someone very special".
Over the last few weeks, the post has received notice throughout the news, with several asking why?
Innovative Idea
Adam Caller, chief executive of a global tutoring firm, which is supporting the family in their search, explained that notwithstanding early doubt, he considered the idea "visionary", and "innovative".
When he met the family, he noted they understood the unusual character of their request, and how immature their son is.
Nevertheless, they stated that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to get a tutor, as they had waited until their firstborn was five, and by that stage "cultural bias had already set in".
But what does the family indicate by "cultural leaning"?
It's "everything", he replied. "The way you eat, the manner you speak".
He said the older sibling had adopted "very nuanced, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had assumed their cultural norms. The family told the consultant they wished to avoid this pattern to happen again with their new baby.
The intention: To engage a British tutor, who must speak with RP, to shape the baby from day one.
Natural Absorption
"A great deal of the development at the start here is somewhat absorbed naturally," explained the CEO.
It's through this natural absorption that the family are hoping the child will acquire the UK customs they want to cultivate.
He noted the tutor must be an individual who attended "prestigious academies – the same kinds of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The educator just has to be the suitable individual, they'll be doing things they aren't even aware they're doing, simply by nature," he added.
Expense Not a Factor
The family informed him the successful candidate should ideally also have understanding of or interest in riding, alpine skiing, artistic pursuits and instrumental training so as to shape the child in a broad spectrum of passions.
Additionally though, he explained the family desired the tutor to sign up the child on a selection of classes so the child would be "horseback riding and starting an musical instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's view, helping their son grow into a "English gentleman" will bring about accomplishment and provide access.
"For all the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's certainly a status symbol," he comments.
Yet, notwithstanding all this instruction in "Britishness", could the child absorb alleged cultural influence from the multicultural family he lives with regardless?
"Absolutely", said he. "They realize this might not succeed, but they've just taken the view of, 'let's give it a go and let's go as early as we can', because the expense of it is irrelevant," he said.
Overly Optimistic
Several in the tutoring industry who share these reservations.
Another CEO, head and founder of an educational organization, who supplies private tutors, commented that "the process of becoming bicultural, or actually, forming one's identity, is something that must be lived into, not designed."
Peter wrote that he had moved from China to the UK at the period of seven, and had been educated knowing and practicing dual heritages. He continued to study at a prestigious UK institution.
"The idea that an individual can serve as a embodiment of English culture, someone who can possibly impart the qualities of a UK sophisticate upon a one-year-old child, strikes me as idealistic and unrealistic," he commented.
"Based on my background, employing a typically UK tutor from infancy will not automatically achieve the goal they want.
"I never had such a figure, and nevertheless I have been fortunate enough to enjoy numerous of the opportunities they desire for their son."
He continued: "The fact is, self-identity should not be forced from the outside influences; it must be selected, and it must be internally driven."
Purchasing UK Culture
Certainly, Britishness is something the expert hopes can be taught – and marketed.
"I think the situation that the world views us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
