"A household based in north London wants to find an extraordinary and qualified instructor to guide their most junior child on his first steps to becoming an English gentleman."
Looking at this listing, you might easily skip the phrase "first-steps" as simple figurative language.
However, it may be the crucial aspect of this distinctive job advert, as it seeks to find a teacher for a one-year-old.
Numerous of applications have now been submitted since the anonymous family advertised their search for the highly paid tutor, who needs to be "someone very special".
In recent few weeks, the post has gained notice throughout the media, with several questioning why?
Progressive Approach
A tutoring expert, chief executive of Tutors International, which is assisting the family in their quest, explained that despite first skepticism, he found the plan "forward-looking", and "progressive".
When he consulted the family, he said they appreciated the unusual nature of their requirement, and how young their son is.
Nevertheless, they explained that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to get a tutor, as they had postponed until their elder sibling was five, and by that age "cultural bias had by then set in".
What exactly did the family refer to by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "comprehensive", the expert responded. "The way you eat, the way you speak".
He stated the firstborn had picked up "extremely delicate, unspoken signals" from the family, and had assumed their cultural habits. The family told Adam they wished to avoid history to happen again with their new baby.
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 outset here is kind of osmotic," explained the expert.
It's through this natural absorption that the family are expecting the child will pick up the English characteristics they wish to instil.
He said the tutor must be an individual who went to "prestigious academies – the same kinds of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The instructor must be the suitable individual, they'll be doing things they don't even know they're doing, just naturally," he commented.
Money No Object
The family told him the chosen tutor should ideally also have familiarity of or enthusiasm in equestrian activities, alpine skiing, the arts and music so as to inspire the child in a diverse set of passions.
Additionally though, he said the family hoped the tutor to enrol the child on a variety of courses 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 minds, helping their son grow into a "UK sophisticate" will bring about accomplishment and open doors.
"For all the rights and wrongs of that, because it's undoubtedly a status symbol," he adds.
But, in spite of all this guidance in "UK identity", would the child pick up alleged cultural influence from the international family he is raised by regardless?
"Yes", answered the CEO. "They know this may not work, but they've merely embraced the attitude of, 'we should try and let's go as quickly as we can', because the expense of it is irrelevant," he explained.
Impractical
Several in the private teaching field who have similar doubts.
An education leader, CEO and founder of Blue Education, who provides private tutors, commented that "the journey of adopting dual cultures, or indeed, becoming oneself, is something that must be lived into, not engineered."
He noted that he had emigrated from Asia to the UK at the time of childhood, and had been raised experiencing and practicing dual heritages. He continued to learn at a prestigious UK institution.
"The concept that a single person can serve as a embodiment of Britishness, a person who can somehow transfer the qualities of a English gentleman upon a 12-month-old child, appears optimistic and unfeasible," he stated.
"From my perspective, having a distinctly British tutor from babyhood will not automatically achieve the goal they desire.
"I wasn't provided with such a figure, and however I have been lucky enough to live several of the experiences they hope for their son."
He continued: "The fact is, cultural identity should not be imposed from the external environment; it must be embraced, and it must be internally driven."
Buying Britishness
Of course, UK identity is something Adam hopes can be educated – and commercialized.
"I think the situation that the world regards us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
