"A household based in the northern part of London is looking for an extraordinary and qualified tutor to support their youngest child on his initial journey to growing into an English gentleman."
When reading this advertisement, you might naturally miss the term "beginning" as just a turn of phrase.
However, it may be the crucial element of this unusual job advert, as it seeks to hire a tutor for a 12-month-old.
Hundreds of applications have since been received since the unnamed family advertised their request for the £180,000 per year tutor, who has to be "a uniquely qualified person".
In recent few weeks, the listing has received interest in the media, with numerous questioning why?
Forward-Thinking Method
A tutoring expert, CEO and founder of an education consultancy, which is supporting the family in their quest, said that notwithstanding first scepticism, he considered the idea "far sighted", and "progressive".
When he met the family, he said they appreciated the atypical nature of their demand, and how early in age their son is.
Nevertheless, they explained that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had postponed until their firstborn was five, and by that point "cultural influence had by then set in".
What precisely does the family refer to by "cultural bias"?
It's "all-encompassing", Adam replied. "The way you eat, the manner you speak".
He said the older sibling had picked up "extremely delicate, body language" from the family, and had adopted their cultural habits. The family told the consultant they did not want the same situation to recur with their younger child.
The intention: To bring in a UK tutor, who needs to speak with RP, to shape the baby right from the beginning.
Osmotic Learning
"A great deal of the development at the start here is kind of osmotic," explained Adam.
It's by means of this subtle influence that the family are aiming the child will acquire the English characteristics they aim to instil.
Adam said the tutor needed to be an individual who attended "the right kinds of schools – comparable categories of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The instructor just has to be the suitable individual, they'll be doing things they may not realize they're doing, just naturally," he added.
Expense Not a Factor
The family informed him the selected educator should preferably also have understanding of or interest in riding, winter sports, the arts and music so as to inspire the child in a broad spectrum of passions.
More than that though, he said the family hoped the tutor to enrol the child on a selection of classes so the child would be "horseback riding and starting an tool by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's minds, guiding their son develop into a "English gentleman" will lead to achievement and open doors.
"Taking into account the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's certainly a social class indicator," he comments.
But, notwithstanding all this guidance in "English culture", might the child pick up alleged cultural influence from the multicultural family he lives with regardless?
"Yes", replied Adam. "They understand this could fail, but they've merely embraced the view of, 'we should try and let's go as soon as we can', because the cost of it is not a concern," he said.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
Several in the tutoring industry who share similar doubts.
An education leader, CEO and founder of an educational organization, who also offer individual instructors, commented that "the journey of becoming bicultural, or actually, discovering oneself, is something that must be lived into, not manufactured."
He noted that he had emigrated from Asia to the UK at the age of seven, and had been raised experiencing and living two backgrounds. He progressed to be educated at Cambridge University.
"The concept that a single person can serve as a representation of Britishness, someone who can somehow impart the attributes of a English gentleman upon a one-year-old child, appears optimistic and unrealistic," he stated.
"From my perspective, employing a typically British tutor from early childhood will will not automatically create the goal they hope for.
"I wasn't provided with such a figure, and however I have been lucky enough to experience several of the opportunities they aspire for their son."
He stated: "The fact is, self-identity can not be imposed from the outside influences; it must be chosen, and it must be internally driven."
Buying Britishness
Of course, English culture is something Adam believes can be instructed – and commercialized.
"In my view the situation that the global community regards us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
