"Parents residing in North London seeks an remarkable and experienced educator to guide their most junior child on his initial journey to turning into an British gentleman."
Upon seeing this advertisement, you might easily skip the term "initial stages" as just a turn of phrase.
However, it could be the most significant element of this distinctive job advert, as it attempts to recruit a mentor for a one-year-old.
Numerous of submissions have since been received since the anonymous family posted their request for the £180,000 per year tutor, who needs to be "a uniquely qualified person".
In recent few weeks, the post has received attention across the media, with several wondering why?
Progressive Approach
The CEO, head and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is assisting the family in their quest, said that in spite of early skepticism, he considered the concept "forward-looking", and "progressive".
When he spoke with the family, he noted they appreciated the atypical nature of their request, and how young their son is.
However, they explained that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had waited until their elder sibling was five, and by that age "cultural conditioning had already set in".
What precisely did the family refer to by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "comprehensive", he answered. "How you eat, how you speak".
He explained the elder child had absorbed "extremely delicate, body language" from the family, and had adopted their cultural habits. The family informed Adam they did not want this pattern to happen again with their infant.
The strategy: To hire a English tutor, who should speak with standard English accent, to influence the baby right from the beginning.
Osmotic Learning
"A lot of the development at the outset here is kind of acquired indirectly," said the CEO.
It's by means of this subtle influence that the family are hoping the child will pick up the UK customs they aim to impart.
The consultant said the tutor must be somebody who went to "the appropriate educational institutions – the same kinds of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The educator simply needs to be the suitable individual, they'll be doing things they aren't even aware they're doing, just naturally," he added.
Cost Not Relevant
The family explained to him the selected educator should ideally also have understanding of or enthusiasm in equestrian activities, winter sports, artistic pursuits and music so as to influence the child in a diverse set of passions.
More than that though, he said the family wanted the tutor to register the child on a range of classes so the child would be "equestrian training and learning an instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's minds, guiding their son grow into a "English gentleman" will bring about success and provide access.
"For all the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's undoubtedly a social class indicator," he comments.
Yet, notwithstanding all this guidance in "Britishness", could the child adopt so-called cultural bias from the multicultural family he resides with regardless?
"Certainly", said he. "The family realize this may not work, but they've simply adopted the view of, 'let's give it a go and we'll proceed as quickly as we can', because the cost of it is not a concern," he said.
Impractical
A number of in the education sector who express similar doubts.
Another CEO, chief executive of a tutoring service, who supplies personal educators, stated that "the development of becoming bicultural, or in fact, forming one's identity, is something that must be lived into, not manufactured."
He noted that he had moved from Asia to the United Kingdom at the age of 7 years old, and had been educated understanding and practicing dual heritages. He progressed to be educated at the University of Cambridge.
"The notion that a single person can function as a living vessel of UK identity, someone who can possibly transfer the characteristics of a UK sophisticate upon a infant child, seems to me optimistic and unfeasible," he wrote.
"In my experience, employing a quintessentially English tutor from babyhood will does not automatically achieve the outcome they want.
"I wasn't provided with such a tutor, and however I have been lucky enough to enjoy numerous of the opportunities they hope for their son."
He continued: "The truth is, personal identity should not be dictated from the outside influences; it must be embraced, and it must be internally driven."
Acquiring Englishness
Certainly, English culture is something Adam hopes can be taught – and marketed.
"I think the fact that the global community holds us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
