"Parents residing in North London is looking for an remarkable and skilled tutor to assist their youngest child on his first steps to turning into an English gentleman."
Looking at this advertisement, you might easily overlook the term "first-steps" as mere an expression.
However, it might be the crucial aspect of this unusual job advert, as it attempts to hire a tutor for a one-year-old.
Hundreds of responses have now been sent in since the anonymous family posted their call for the £180k-a-year tutor, who must be "someone very special".
Over the last few weeks, the listing has received notice in the press, with several questioning why?
Progressive Approach
A tutoring expert, head and founder of Tutors International, which is helping the family in their hunt, stated that in spite of early skepticism, he found the idea "forward-looking", and "advanced".
When he spoke with the family, he mentioned they recognized the unconventional 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 get a tutor, as they had postponed until their older child was five, and by that point "cultural bias had already become established".
What precisely does the family mean by "cultural leaning"?
It's "all-encompassing", he responded. "The way you eat, the manner you speak".
He said the firstborn had adopted "very nuanced, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had taken on their cultural ways. The family explained to him they hoped to prevent this pattern to repeat itself with their new baby.
The strategy: To bring in a English tutor, who needs to speak with Received Pronunciation, to guide the baby from the very start.
Subtle Influence
"A great deal of the education at the start here is somewhat acquired indirectly," explained the CEO.
It's via this natural absorption that the family are expecting the child will acquire the English characteristics they aim to impart.
The consultant explained the tutor had to be somebody who studied at "prestigious academies – similar types of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The instructor just has to be the suitable individual, they'll be doing things they aren't even aware they're doing, simply by nature," he added.
Money No Object
The family informed the expert the successful candidate should ideally also have knowledge of or passion in horse riding, skiing, artistic pursuits and musical activities so as to influence the child in a diverse set of passions.
More than that though, he said the family wanted the tutor to register the child on a selection of courses so the child would be "equestrian training and learning an tool by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's minds, guiding their son become a "English gentleman" will bring about achievement and create opportunities.
"For all the pros and cons of that, because it's definitely a class statement," he notes.
But, in spite of all this instruction in "UK identity", could the child adopt so-called cultural bias from the multicultural family he is raised by anyway?
"Absolutely", replied the CEO. "The parents know this may not work, but they've merely embraced the perspective of, 'let's give it a go and we should start as early as we can', because the expense of it is not a concern," he explained.
Impractical
A number of in the private teaching field who express similar concerns.
Peter Cui, head and founder of an educational organization, who also offer private tutors, stated that "the process of becoming bicultural, or indeed, forming one's identity, is something that must be experienced personally, not designed."
The expert explained that he had moved from the Far East to the United Kingdom at the age of 7 years old, and had been educated experiencing and embodying both cultures. He progressed to be educated at a prestigious UK institution.
"The concept that an individual can act as a representation of UK identity, someone who can in some way impart the attributes of a British gentleman to a infant child, strikes me as optimistic and unrealistic," he stated.
"In my experience, employing a typically English tutor from babyhood will not necessarily achieve the goal they hope for.
"I did not have such a tutor, and yet I have been fortunate enough to live many of the situations they hope for their son."
He added: "The fact is, self-identity cannot be dictated from the outside influences; it must be selected, and it must originate internally."
Buying Britishness
Of course, Britishness is something Adam believes can be taught – and marketed.
"In my view the situation that the world views us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
