"A household located in North London seeks an extraordinary and skilled tutor to support their smallest child on his initial journey to turning into an British gentleman."
Looking at this post, you might easily miss the wording "beginning" as simple a turn of phrase.
But, it could be the crucial element of this distinctive employment listing, as it attempts to find a teacher for a one-year-old.
Many of applications have now been received since the unnamed family published 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 notice throughout the news, with many questioning why?
Forward-Thinking Method
The CEO, CEO and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is helping the family in their quest, said that in spite of early skepticism, he viewed the plan "forward-looking", and "innovative".
When he consulted the family, he mentioned they recognized the unconventional character of their demand, and how young their son is.
Nevertheless, they explained that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had waited until their firstborn was five, and by that age "cultural conditioning had already taken hold".
What exactly did the family mean by "cultural leaning"?
It's "comprehensive", the expert answered. "The manner you eat, how you speak".
He stated the older sibling had adopted "very nuanced, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had taken on their cultural norms. The family told Adam they hoped to prevent the same situation to happen again with their younger child.
The intention: To engage a English tutor, who must speak with RP, to guide the baby from day one.
Osmotic Learning
"Much of the learning at the outset here is somewhat absorbed naturally," stated the expert.
It's by means of this natural absorption that the family are hoping the child will adopt the UK customs they aim to impart.
He explained the tutor had to be somebody who went to "the appropriate educational institutions – the same kinds of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The instructor must be the right kind of person, they'll be carrying out things they aren't even aware they're doing, simply by nature," he commented.
Expense Not a Factor
The family told Adam the successful candidate should preferably also have understanding of or interest in equestrian activities, winter sports, creative fields and music so as to shape the child in a broad spectrum of interests.
More than that though, he stated the family wanted the tutor to enrol the child on a range of classes so the child would be "equestrian training and picking up an tool by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's view, helping their son grow into a "British gentleman" will bring about achievement and provide access.
"For all the rights and wrongs of that, because it's definitely a status symbol," he notes.
However, notwithstanding all this tutelage in "UK identity", could the child adopt so-called cultural bias from the international family he lives with in any case?
"Yes", said Adam. "The parents realize this could fail, but they've just taken the view of, 'why not attempt it and we'll proceed as quickly as we can', because the cost of it is not relevant," he explained.
Impractical
There are some in the education sector who have these reservations.
Peter Cui, chief executive of Blue Education, who also offer personal educators, wrote that "the process of becoming bicultural, or actually, discovering oneself, is something that must be grown into, not manufactured."
Peter wrote that he had relocated from Asia to the Britain at the age of childhood, and had been brought up understanding and embodying both cultures. He went on to study at the University of Cambridge.
"The notion that one individual can serve as a embodiment of UK identity, an individual who can somehow impart the attributes of a UK sophisticate upon a one-year-old child, seems to me naive and impractical," he wrote.
"From my perspective, engaging a distinctly British tutor from infancy will does not necessarily achieve the goal they want.
"I did not have that kind of mentor, and nevertheless I have been privileged enough to enjoy numerous of the situations they aspire for their son."
He added: "The truth is, cultural identity can not be dictated from the outside influences; it must be chosen, and it must be internally driven."
Purchasing UK Culture
Naturally, Britishness is something the CEO believes can be educated – and commercialized.
"I think the reality that the international society regards us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
