"Parents located in the northern part of London seeks an exceptional and skilled tutor to support their most junior child on his first steps to turning into an English gentleman."
When reading this advertisement, you might readily miss the term "first-steps" as simple a turn of phrase.
However, it may be the most important part of this unique position posting, as it aims to recruit a teacher for a infant.
Many of responses have now been received since the anonymous family posted their request for the £180,000 per year tutor, who must be "an exceptional individual".
In recent few weeks, the advert has received notice in the press, with numerous wondering why?
Forward-Thinking Method
A tutoring expert, head and founder of an education consultancy, which is supporting the family in their search, stated that in spite of first skepticism, he viewed the concept "forward-looking", and "advanced".
When he met the family, he said they understood the unconventional nature of their request, and how young their son is.
But, they clarified that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had held off until their elder sibling was five, and by that age "cultural influence had already taken hold".
What exactly does the family mean by "cultural bias"?
It's "everything", he answered. "How you eat, how you speak".
He stated the firstborn had picked up "extremely delicate, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had taken on their cultural ways. The family told Adam they did not want the same situation to repeat itself with their younger child.
The intention: To engage a English tutor, who needs to speak with Received Pronunciation, to influence the baby right from the beginning.
Osmotic Learning
"A lot of the learning at the start here is kind of acquired indirectly," said the expert.
It's through this natural absorption that the family are hoping the child will acquire the British traits they aim to cultivate.
He noted the tutor needed to be an individual who studied at "the appropriate educational institutions – the same kinds of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The educator just has to be the right kind of person, they'll be carrying out things they may not realize they're doing, simply by nature," he said.
Expense Not a Factor
The family informed Adam the chosen tutor should ideally also have knowledge of or passion in horse riding, winter sports, artistic pursuits and musical activities so as to inspire the child in a broad spectrum of interests.
Additionally though, he explained the family desired the tutor to enrol the child on a selection of courses 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 perspective, helping their son become a "British gentleman" will bring about achievement and open doors.
"Considering the rights and wrongs of that, because it's certainly a class statement," he adds.
But, in spite of all this instruction in "UK identity", would the child pick up alleged cultural bias from the multicultural family he resides with regardless?
"Certainly", replied Adam. "The family know this might not succeed, but they've simply adopted the perspective of, 'why not attempt it and we'll proceed as soon as we can', because the price of it is irrelevant," he explained.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
There are some in the education sector who have these doubts.
Another CEO, CEO and founder of an educational organization, who provides individual instructors, wrote that "the process of adopting dual cultures, or in fact, discovering oneself, is something that must be grown into, not manufactured."
The expert explained that he had emigrated from China to the Britain at the period of childhood, and had been brought up knowing and practicing dual heritages. He continued to learn at the University of Cambridge.
"The notion that a single person can serve as a living vessel of Britishness, an individual who can somehow transplant the attributes of a British gentleman to a one-year-old child, appears idealistic and impractical," he stated.
"Based on my background, employing a quintessentially British tutor from babyhood will not instantly create the outcome they want.
"I did not have that kind of mentor, and nevertheless I have been fortunate enough to live many of the experiences they hope for their son."
He added: "The truth is, personal identity can not be imposed from the outside influences; it must be embraced, and it must come from within."
Acquiring Englishness
Naturally, English culture is something Adam believes can be educated – and marketed.
"I think the situation that the international society regards us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
