"A household located in North London seeks an exceptional and skilled tutor to guide their most junior child on his early path to becoming an English gentleman."
When reading this advertisement, you might easily overlook the term "beginning" as just a turn of phrase.
But, it could be the crucial element of this unique job advert, as it seeks to find a tutor for a 12-month-old.
Many of applications have already been sent in since the anonymous family posted their request for the £180k-a-year tutor, who needs to be "an exceptional individual".
Over the last few weeks, the post has attracted attention throughout the media, with many questioning why?
Forward-Thinking Method
The CEO, head and founder of an education consultancy, which is assisting the family in their hunt, stated that in spite of initial skepticism, he considered the plan "far sighted", and "progressive".
When he met the family, he mentioned they recognized the unusual nature of their request, and how young 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 point "cultural bias had by then become established".
What precisely does the family indicate by "cultural bias"?
It's "all-encompassing", he replied. "How you eat, how you speak".
He stated the older sibling had adopted "very nuanced, body language" from the family, and had taken on their cultural habits. The family told the consultant they hoped to prevent the same situation to recur with their younger child.
The intention: To bring in a British tutor, who should speak with Received Pronunciation, to shape the baby from day one.
Subtle Influence
"Much of the education at the beginning here is kind of absorbed naturally," stated Adam.
It's by means of this osmosis that the family are expecting the child will adopt the English characteristics they wish to impart.
Adam explained the tutor must be an individual who studied at "the appropriate educational institutions – the same kinds of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The instructor must be the right kind of person, they'll be carrying out things they don't even know they're doing, just naturally," he said.
Expense Not a Factor
The family informed the expert the chosen tutor should ideally also have familiarity of or passion in equestrian activities, skiing, creative fields and musical activities so as to inspire the child in a diverse set of interests.
More than that though, he explained the family wanted the tutor to register the child on a range of classes so the child would be "horseback riding and learning an musical instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's view, assisting their son develop into a "UK sophisticate" will lead to achievement and provide access.
"Taking into account the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's definitely a status symbol," he adds.
However, in spite of all this tutelage in "UK identity", could the child adopt so-called cultural influence from the multicultural family he resides with anyway?
"Certainly", said Adam. "The parents understand this may not work, but they've merely embraced the attitude of, 'why not attempt it and we'll proceed as soon as we can', because the cost of it is irrelevant," he said.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
Several in the tutoring industry who share these concerns.
Peter Cui, CEO and founder of an educational organization, who supplies personal educators, stated that "the journey of adopting dual cultures, or indeed, forming one's identity, is something that must be lived into, not engineered."
Peter wrote that he had moved from Asia to the Britain at the time of seven, and had been raised experiencing and embodying dual heritages. He went on to study at the University of Cambridge.
"The notion that a single person can act as a representation of UK identity, an individual who can possibly transplant the attributes of a English gentleman onto a 12-month-old child, appears optimistic and impractical," he stated.
"Based on my background, employing a quintessentially English tutor from early childhood will not necessarily achieve the goal they desire.
"I never had such a tutor, and however I have been privileged enough to live numerous of the experiences they desire for their son."
He continued: "The reality is, personal identity cannot be imposed from the external environment; it must be embraced, and it must be internally driven."
Buying Britishness
Certainly, English culture is something Adam believes can be instructed – and marketed.
"I think the situation that the world holds us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
