"Parents located in North London is looking for an exceptional and skilled educator to guide their youngest child on his first steps to becoming an English gentleman."
Upon seeing this listing, you might easily miss the phrase "first-steps" as mere a turn of phrase.
But, it might be the most significant part of this distinctive position posting, as it seeks to find a mentor for a infant.
Numerous of submissions have already been received since the unidentified family advertised their request for the £180k-a-year tutor, who must be "a uniquely qualified person".
In recent few weeks, the advert has attracted attention in the news, with many wondering why?
Innovative Idea
A tutoring expert, head and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is assisting the family in their quest, said that in spite of first scepticism, he found the concept "far sighted", and "progressive".
When he consulted the family, he mentioned they recognized the atypical aspect of their requirement, and how young their son is.
But, they clarified that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had held off until their elder sibling was five, and by that stage "cultural influence had already become established".
What exactly does the family refer to by "cultural leaning"?
It's "everything", Adam answered. "The way you eat, the manner you speak".
He said the firstborn had absorbed "very nuanced, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had taken on their cultural norms. The family told Adam they hoped to prevent this pattern to recur with their infant.
The strategy: To engage a English tutor, who needs to speak with Received Pronunciation, to shape the baby from day one.
Osmotic Learning
"Much of the learning at the beginning here is somewhat osmotic," stated the expert.
It's via this osmosis that the family are expecting the child will adopt the English characteristics they wish to cultivate.
The consultant explained the tutor must be an individual who studied at "prestigious academies – similar types of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The tutor simply needs to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be performing things they may not realize they're doing, just naturally," he added.
Cost Not Relevant
The family informed him the chosen tutor should preferably also have knowledge of or enthusiasm in equestrian activities, alpine skiing, creative fields and music so as to inspire the child in a diverse set of hobbies.
Furthermore though, he explained the family hoped the tutor to register the child on a range of courses so the child would be "equestrian training and picking up an tool by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's minds, assisting their son grow into a "UK sophisticate" will result in success and provide access.
"Considering the pros and cons of that, because it's definitely a class statement," he notes.
But, notwithstanding all this guidance in "UK identity", could the child absorb what is termed cultural bias from the multicultural family he resides with regardless?
"Yes", said he. "They understand this could fail, but they've just taken the perspective of, 'let's give it a go and let's go as quickly as we can', because the price of it is not a concern," he said.
Impractical
A number of in the private teaching field who have these doubts.
An education leader, chief executive of a tutoring service, who provides private tutors, wrote that "the process of becoming bicultural, or in fact, discovering oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not designed."
He wrote that he had relocated from Asia to the United Kingdom at the time of childhood, and had been raised experiencing and living dual heritages. He continued to learn at Cambridge University.
"The notion that one individual can function as a living vessel of Britishness, a person who can somehow transfer the attributes of a British gentleman onto a 12-month-old child, seems to me optimistic and impractical," he stated.
"From my perspective, engaging a typically UK tutor from babyhood will will not automatically create the outcome they want.
"I did not have such a figure, and nevertheless I have been lucky enough to enjoy numerous of the experiences they desire for their son."
He continued: "The fact is, personal identity should not be forced from the outside; it must be embraced, and it must be internally driven."
Buying Britishness
Of course, Britishness is something Adam believes can be educated – and commercialized.
"In my view the fact that the international society holds us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
