"A household based in north London is looking for an remarkable and skilled educator to guide their youngest child on his first steps to growing into an English gentleman."
Upon seeing this advertisement, you might naturally overlook the phrase "first-steps" as just a turn of phrase.
However, it might be the most important aspect of this unusual employment listing, as it seeks to recruit a mentor for a infant.
Hundreds of submissions have already been received since the anonymous family advertised their request for the £180,000 per year tutor, who must be "a uniquely qualified person".
In recent few weeks, the advert has attracted interest across the media, with numerous questioning why?
Forward-Thinking Method
The CEO, CEO and founder of Tutors International, which is helping the family in their hunt, said that notwithstanding initial skepticism, he viewed the plan "forward-looking", and "progressive".
When he met the family, he mentioned they recognized the unusual character of their request, and how immature their son is.
However, they clarified that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to get a tutor, as they had held off until their older child was five, and by that stage "cultural conditioning had by then become established".
What exactly did the family indicate by "cultural leaning"?
It's "comprehensive", he responded. "The way you eat, the way you speak".
He explained the firstborn had picked up "extremely delicate, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had taken on their cultural ways. The family explained to Adam they did not want the same situation to happen again with their younger child.
The plan: To bring in a English tutor, who should speak with Received Pronunciation, to influence the baby from the very start.
Natural Absorption
"A great deal of the education at the start here is somewhat osmotic," stated Adam.
It's through this natural absorption that the family are aiming the child will acquire the English characteristics they want to cultivate.
Adam said the tutor must be someone who went to "prestigious academies – comparable categories of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The educator simply needs to be the suitable individual, they'll be carrying out things they aren't even aware they're doing, effortlessly," he added.
Cost Not Relevant
The family informed Adam the chosen tutor should ideally also have understanding of or interest in riding, winter sports, creative fields and instrumental training so as to inspire the child in a broad spectrum of passions.
Additionally though, he said the family hoped the tutor to enrol the child on a range of lessons so the child would be "equestrian training and starting an musical instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's view, helping their son become a "British gentleman" will lead to success and provide access.
"For all the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's certainly a social class indicator," he adds.
Yet, despite all this tutelage in "UK identity", could the child pick up alleged cultural leaning from the globally influenced family he is raised by regardless?
"Certainly", answered he. "They understand this may not work, but they've simply adopted the attitude of, 'why not attempt it and we should start as soon as we can', because the price of it is not a concern," he explained.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
There are some in the tutoring industry who share these concerns.
Peter Cui, chief executive of Blue Education, who also offer personal educators, wrote that "the process of adopting dual cultures, or actually, becoming oneself, is something that must be grown into, not designed."
Peter wrote that he had emigrated from Asia to the UK at the age of seven, and had been raised knowing and practicing two backgrounds. He went on to study at the University of Cambridge.
"The notion that a single person can function as a living vessel of English culture, someone who can somehow impart the characteristics of a British gentleman upon a infant child, seems to me idealistic and unfeasible," he commented.
"From my perspective, engaging a typically UK tutor from babyhood will does not instantly produce the goal they want.
"I never had such a tutor, and nevertheless I have been fortunate enough to live several of the opportunities they hope for their son."
He stated: "The fact is, personal identity cannot be forced from the outside influences; it must be selected, and it must be internally driven."
Buying Britishness
Certainly, UK identity is something the expert hopes can be educated – and sold.
"In my view the situation that the world regards us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
