"A family based in north London seeks an extraordinary and experienced educator to guide their most junior child on his first steps to growing into an British gentleman."
Looking at this listing, you might readily skip the term "first-steps" as mere a turn of phrase.
However, it might be the most significant element of this distinctive job advert, as it attempts to recruit a mentor for a 12-month-old.
Many of responses have since been sent in since the unidentified family published their call for the £180,000 per year tutor, who needs to be "an exceptional individual".
Over the last few weeks, the advert has gained interest across the media, with several questioning why?
Progressive Approach
The CEO, head and founder of an education consultancy, which is assisting the family in their search, stated that despite early scepticism, he found the idea "far sighted", and "progressive".
When he consulted the family, he mentioned they recognized the atypical character of their demand, and how early in age their son is.
But, they stated that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had waited until their older child was five, and by that point "cultural conditioning had already set in".
But what did the family indicate by "cultural bias"?
It's "everything", he responded. "How you eat, the way you speak".
He explained the firstborn had absorbed "really subtle, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had adopted their cultural ways. The family informed Adam they did not want this pattern to recur with their infant.
The plan: To bring in a UK tutor, who should speak with RP, to shape the baby right from the beginning.
Natural Absorption
"A great deal of the education at the start here is rather absorbed naturally," stated Adam.
It's by means of this subtle influence that the family are hoping the child will pick up the English characteristics they wish to impart.
He noted the tutor needed to be somebody who went to "prestigious academies – similar types of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The instructor must be the suitable individual, they'll be performing things they don't even know they're doing, effortlessly," he said.
Money No Object
The family informed the expert the chosen tutor should ideally also have understanding of or passion in equestrian activities, winter sports, artistic pursuits and instrumental training so as to influence the child in a diverse set of hobbies.
Additionally though, he said the family desired the tutor to register the child on a range of courses so the child would be "equestrian training and learning an instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's minds, assisting their son become a "UK sophisticate" will result in accomplishment and open doors.
"Considering the pros and cons of that, because it's certainly a social class indicator," he notes.
But, notwithstanding all this instruction in "Britishness", would the child absorb so-called cultural influence from the multicultural family he resides with regardless?
"Yes", replied the CEO. "The parents know this may not work, but they've just taken the view of, 'let's give it a go and we should start as soon as we can', because the price of it is not relevant," he stated.
Overly Optimistic
A number of in the private teaching field who share similar concerns.
Another CEO, chief executive of Blue Education, who supplies individual instructors, stated that "the process of becoming bicultural, or in fact, becoming oneself, is something that must be lived into, not engineered."
He wrote that he had emigrated from China to the UK at the period of childhood, and had been brought up knowing and embodying dual heritages. He progressed to learn at the University of Cambridge.
"The idea that a single person can act as a representation of English culture, an individual who can somehow transplant the attributes of a UK sophisticate upon a infant child, seems to me naive and unrealistic," he commented.
"From my perspective, having a quintessentially English tutor from babyhood will not instantly produce the goal they desire.
"I never had that kind of mentor, and however I have been privileged enough to live many of the experiences they hope for their son."
He continued: "The fact is, self-identity cannot be dictated from the outside influences; it must be chosen, and it must originate internally."
Purchasing UK Culture
Of course, Britishness is something Adam hopes can be instructed – and sold.
"In my view the situation that the international society regards us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
