"Parents located in the northern part of London seeks an remarkable and experienced tutor to guide their youngest child on his first steps to turning into an English gentleman."
Upon seeing this advertisement, you might naturally skip the wording "initial stages" as just figurative language.
Yet, it may be the most significant aspect of this unusual employment listing, as it attempts to find a teacher for a one-year-old.
Hundreds of responses have now been sent in since the anonymous family advertised their request for the £180k-a-year tutor, who needs to be "a uniquely qualified person".
In recent few weeks, the post has gained attention in the press, with many wondering why?
Forward-Thinking Method
The CEO, head and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is assisting the family in their search, explained that despite first skepticism, he considered the concept "far sighted", and "innovative".
When he met the family, he mentioned they recognized the atypical aspect of their requirement, and how early in age their son is.
But, they clarified that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to get a tutor, as they had held off until their firstborn was five, and by that point "cultural bias had by then become established".
What exactly does the family mean by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "all-encompassing", Adam answered. "How you eat, the way you speak".
He said the firstborn had absorbed "really subtle, unspoken signals" from the family, and had adopted their cultural norms. The family informed him they did not want the same situation to happen again with their new baby.
The plan: To engage a British tutor, who should speak with standard English accent, to influence the baby from the very start.
Subtle Influence
"A great deal of the learning at the outset here is somewhat osmotic," stated Adam.
It's via this osmosis that the family are expecting the child will adopt the UK customs they wish to instil.
Adam noted the tutor must be an individual who attended "prestigious academies – comparable categories of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The instructor must be the right kind of person, they'll be carrying out things they aren't even aware they're doing, effortlessly," he commented.
Expense Not a Factor
The family informed Adam the successful candidate should ideally also have understanding of or enthusiasm in riding, winter sports, artistic pursuits and music so as to influence the child in a wide range of passions.
More than that though, he explained the family desired the tutor to register the child on a selection of classes so the child would be "equestrian training and starting an instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's perspective, helping their son grow into a "English gentleman" will result in achievement and create opportunities.
"For all the rights and wrongs of that, because it's definitely a status symbol," he comments.
However, notwithstanding all this instruction in "UK identity", could the child adopt what is termed cultural leaning from the international family he is raised by regardless?
"Absolutely", answered Adam. "The parents understand this could fail, but they've just taken the view of, 'we should try and we should start as quickly as we can', because the cost of it is not a concern," he explained.
Overly Optimistic
There are some in the private teaching field who express these reservations.
Another CEO, head and founder of an educational organization, who provides individual instructors, stated that "the journey of adopting dual cultures, or indeed, forming one's identity, is something that must be experienced personally, not manufactured."
The expert noted that he had moved from Asia to the UK at the period of seven, and had been educated knowing and practicing two backgrounds. He went on to study at the University of Cambridge.
"The concept that one individual can act as a embodiment of English culture, someone who can possibly impart the attributes of a British gentleman upon a infant child, seems to me naive and impractical," he commented.
"In my experience, employing a quintessentially UK tutor from infancy will not automatically produce the outcome they hope for.
"I did not have that kind of mentor, and however I have been fortunate enough to live numerous of the situations they desire for their son."
He added: "The fact is, self-identity can not be dictated from the outside; it must be selected, and it must be internally driven."
Buying Britishness
Certainly, Britishness is something Adam thinks can be educated – and sold.
"In my view the situation that the world views us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
