"A family based in North London wants to find an remarkable and qualified instructor to assist their most junior child on his first steps to becoming an British gentleman."
When reading this post, you might naturally skip the wording "first-steps" as just figurative language.
However, it may be the crucial aspect of this distinctive job advert, as it attempts to hire a mentor for a one-year-old.
Numerous of submissions have since been received since the anonymous family published their call for the £180k-a-year tutor, who has to be "someone very special".
Over the last few weeks, the post has attracted notice across the press, with numerous wondering why?
Progressive Approach
A tutoring expert, chief executive of a global tutoring firm, which is assisting the family in their hunt, stated that despite first doubt, he found the concept "far sighted", and "advanced".
When he spoke with the family, he mentioned they appreciated the unusual character of their request, and how early in age their son is.
But, they stated that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had postponed until their firstborn was five, and by that point "cultural conditioning had already set in".
But what does the family refer to by "cultural leaning"?
It's "comprehensive", Adam responded. "The way you eat, how you speak".
He said the firstborn had picked up "very nuanced, body language" from the family, and had taken on their cultural norms. The family explained to Adam they wished to avoid the same situation to repeat itself with their infant.
The plan: To hire a UK tutor, who should speak with standard English accent, to influence the baby from day one.
Subtle Influence
"A great deal of the education at the start here is somewhat osmotic," explained Adam.
It's via this osmosis that the family are expecting the child will acquire the British traits they want to instil.
He explained the tutor must be an individual who went to "the right kinds of schools – comparable categories of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The instructor simply needs to be the right kind of person, they'll be performing things they don't even know they're doing, effortlessly," he added.
Money No Object
The family informed the expert the chosen tutor should ideally also have understanding of or interest in riding, alpine skiing, the arts and instrumental training so as to influence the child in a wide range of passions.
More than that though, he said the family hoped the tutor to sign up the child on a range of courses so the child would be "horseback riding and picking up an musical instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's perspective, helping their son become a "English gentleman" will bring about success and create opportunities.
"Considering the pros and cons of that, because it's undoubtedly a class statement," he comments.
But, in spite of all this guidance in "English culture", could the child adopt so-called cultural leaning from the international family he lives with anyway?
"Certainly", replied Adam. "They realize this might not succeed, but they've merely embraced the perspective of, 'let's give it a go and we should start as early as we can', because the expense of it is irrelevant," he said.
Overly Optimistic
There are some in the education sector who express these reservations.
Another CEO, chief executive of an educational organization, who provides private tutors, commented that "the development of becoming bicultural, or actually, forming one's identity, is something that must be experienced personally, not engineered."
He wrote that he had relocated from Asia to the Britain at the age of childhood, and had been raised experiencing and embodying both cultures. He progressed to learn at the University of Cambridge.
"The concept that an individual can function as a representation of UK identity, someone who can in some way transfer the attributes of a English gentleman to a 12-month-old child, appears naive and unrealistic," he commented.
"In my experience, having a distinctly British tutor from infancy will not instantly create the outcome they want.
"I did not have such a figure, and nevertheless I have been privileged enough to enjoy many of the opportunities they hope for their son."
He stated: "The fact is, cultural identity should not be forced from the outside; it must be embraced, and it must originate internally."
Purchasing UK Culture
Certainly, UK identity is something Adam hopes can be instructed – and commercialized.
"I think the reality that the world regards us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
