"A family located in the northern part of London seeks an extraordinary and experienced educator to support their smallest child on his initial journey to turning into an English gentleman."
When reading this post, you might easily overlook the term "beginning" as just figurative language.
But, it could be the crucial part of this distinctive employment listing, as it attempts to find a teacher for a 12-month-old.
Hundreds of applications have now been sent in since the unnamed family advertised their request for the £180,000 per year tutor, who has to be "someone very special".
Over the last few weeks, the listing has gained interest in the news, with many asking why?
Forward-Thinking Method
Adam Caller, CEO and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is assisting the family in their quest, said that in spite of first skepticism, he viewed the concept "forward-looking", and "progressive".
When he spoke with the family, he noted they understood the unconventional aspect of their request, and how immature their son is.
However, they stated that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had postponed until their older child was five, and by that age "cultural bias had already set in".
But what does the family indicate by "cultural bias"?
It's "all-encompassing", Adam replied. "How you eat, the way you speak".
He stated the firstborn had adopted "extremely delicate, unspoken signals" from the family, and had adopted their cultural ways. The family informed him they hoped to prevent this pattern to repeat itself with their infant.
The plan: To engage a English tutor, who needs to speak with RP, to influence the baby from day one.
Natural Absorption
"A lot of the development at the outset here is rather absorbed naturally," stated the CEO.
It's by means of this natural absorption that the family are aiming the child will pick up the British traits they aim to cultivate.
Adam noted the tutor must be someone who studied at "prestigious academies – similar types of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The educator simply needs to be the right kind of person, they'll be performing things they may not realize they're doing, just naturally," he said.
Expense Not a Factor
The family told him the successful candidate should preferably also have understanding of or enthusiasm in horse riding, winter sports, artistic pursuits and music so as to shape the child in a diverse set of interests.
More than that though, he explained the family wanted the tutor to enrol the child on a selection of courses so the child would be "pony-riding and picking up an instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's minds, assisting their son develop into a "UK sophisticate" will bring about success and open doors.
"For all the pros and cons of that, because it's certainly a class statement," he notes.
But, in spite of all this instruction in "English culture", would the child pick up alleged cultural influence from the multicultural family he is raised by in any case?
"Certainly", answered he. "The family understand this may not work, but they've just taken the view of, 'we should try and let's go as quickly as we can', because the cost of it is not a concern," he said.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
A number of in the tutoring industry who have these reservations.
Another CEO, head and founder of a tutoring service, who supplies private tutors, stated that "the process of embracing two identities, or in fact, discovering oneself, is something that must be lived into, not manufactured."
He explained that he had emigrated from the Far East to the United Kingdom at the time of childhood, and had been educated understanding and living two backgrounds. He progressed to be educated at a prestigious UK institution.
"The concept that an individual can act as a representation of English culture, a person who can somehow impart the characteristics of a English gentleman onto a infant child, seems to me idealistic and impractical," he stated.
"In my experience, employing a typically English tutor from babyhood will not automatically achieve the goal they want.
"I did not have that kind of mentor, and yet I have been fortunate enough to experience several of the experiences they aspire for their son."
He stated: "The reality is, personal identity cannot be imposed from the external environment; it must be chosen, and it must come from within."
Acquiring Englishness
Naturally, English culture is something the expert believes can be taught – and marketed.
"I think the reality that the global community views us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
