"A family residing in the northern part of London seeks an exceptional and skilled educator to assist their youngest child on his early path to growing into an British gentleman."
Looking at this advertisement, you might readily miss the phrase "initial stages" as mere figurative language.
Yet, it might be the crucial part of this unique job advert, as it seeks to recruit a mentor for a one-year-old.
Numerous of submissions have since been sent in since the anonymous family posted their call for the £180,000 per year tutor, who must be "a uniquely qualified person".
In recent few weeks, the listing has received interest across the press, with several questioning why?
Progressive Approach
A tutoring expert, CEO and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is helping the family in their search, explained that in spite of early skepticism, he found the idea "visionary", and "progressive".
When he consulted the family, he mentioned they appreciated the unconventional character of their request, and how early in age their son is.
However, they stated that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had held off until their older child was five, and by that point "cultural bias had by then become established".
But what did the family refer to by "cultural leaning"?
It's "comprehensive", the expert replied. "The manner you eat, the way you speak".
He said the firstborn had absorbed "very nuanced, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had taken on their cultural ways. The family told Adam they wished to avoid history to repeat itself with their infant.
The plan: To hire a UK tutor, who needs to speak with Received Pronunciation, to shape the baby from the very start.
Osmotic Learning
"A great deal of the development at the start here is kind of osmotic," stated Adam.
It's via this natural absorption that the family are aiming the child will adopt the UK customs they aim to instil.
Adam explained the tutor needed to be someone who went to "prestigious academies – comparable categories of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The tutor simply needs to be the right kind of person, they'll be carrying out things they aren't even aware they're doing, just naturally," he commented.
Cost Not Relevant
The family explained to the expert the chosen tutor should ideally also have understanding of or passion in riding, alpine skiing, creative fields and instrumental training so as to inspire the child in a wide range of passions.
Additionally though, he explained the family wanted the tutor to register the child on a variety of lessons so the child would be "horseback riding and picking up an instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's view, helping their son grow into a "UK sophisticate" will result in success and create opportunities.
"For all the pros and cons of that, because it's certainly a class statement," he notes.
However, in spite of all this instruction in "UK identity", could the child absorb so-called cultural influence from the globally influenced family he is raised by regardless?
"Absolutely", said the CEO. "They realize this could fail, but they've just taken the view of, 'we should try and we'll proceed as soon as we can', because the price of it is irrelevant," he explained.
Overly Optimistic
There are some in the education sector who share similar concerns.
Peter Cui, chief executive of an educational organization, who also offer individual instructors, wrote that "the journey of becoming bicultural, or indeed, forming one's identity, is something that must be grown into, not designed."
Peter noted that he had moved from the Far East to the UK at the time of childhood, and had been brought up understanding and living two backgrounds. He went on to be educated at Cambridge University.
"The concept that one individual can act as a embodiment of Britishness, someone who can somehow transfer the qualities of a British gentleman onto a 12-month-old child, appears naive and impractical," he commented.
"From my perspective, employing a quintessentially British tutor from early childhood will not instantly create the outcome they want.
"I never had such a tutor, and however I have been privileged enough to enjoy many of the experiences they hope for their son."
He continued: "The reality is, personal identity cannot be imposed from the outside; it must be embraced, and it must be internally driven."
Purchasing UK Culture
Naturally, Britishness is something Adam thinks can be educated – and marketed.
"In my view the reality that the international society views us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
