"Parents residing in the northern part of London seeks an exceptional and skilled tutor to support their smallest child on his initial journey to turning into an British gentleman."
When reading this advertisement, you might readily miss the term "initial stages" as just a turn of phrase.
Yet, it may be the crucial part of this unique position posting, as it seeks to hire a tutor for a 12-month-old.
Many of responses have already been submitted since the unidentified family published their search for the £180,000 per year tutor, who must be "a uniquely qualified person".
In recent few weeks, the post has received notice in the news, with numerous wondering why?
Progressive Approach
The CEO, head and founder of Tutors International, which is assisting the family in their search, explained that notwithstanding early doubt, he viewed the concept "forward-looking", and "advanced".
When he met the family, he noted they understood the atypical character of their demand, and how young their son is.
However, they stated that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to get a tutor, as they had postponed until their older child was five, and by that stage "cultural conditioning had by then set in".
What precisely does the family mean by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "all-encompassing", the expert responded. "The way you eat, how you speak".
He stated the firstborn had picked up "really subtle, body language" from the family, and had adopted their cultural ways. The family informed Adam they wished to avoid the same situation to recur with their infant.
The intention: To hire a English tutor, who should speak with Received Pronunciation, to shape the baby right from the beginning.
Osmotic Learning
"A lot of the education at the start here is rather acquired indirectly," said Adam.
It's by means of this natural absorption that the family are aiming the child will acquire the British traits they aim to cultivate.
The consultant said the tutor must be an individual who studied at "the right kinds of schools – the same kinds of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The instructor just has to be the right kind of person, they'll be doing things they aren't even aware they're doing, just naturally," he commented.
Money No Object
The family explained to the expert the successful candidate should ideally also have understanding of or passion in horse riding, winter sports, the arts and instrumental training so as to inspire the child in a diverse set of interests.
More than that though, he explained the family hoped the tutor to enrol the child on a range of lessons so the child would be "pony-riding and learning an musical instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's view, guiding their son develop into a "UK sophisticate" will lead to accomplishment and provide access.
"Considering the rights and wrongs of that, because it's undoubtedly a class statement," he notes.
However, notwithstanding all this tutelage in "UK identity", might the child adopt alleged cultural bias from the globally influenced family he resides with anyway?
"Absolutely", said Adam. "The family realize this could fail, but they've merely embraced the perspective of, 'let's give it a go and we'll proceed as early as we can', because the price of it is irrelevant," he stated.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
Several in the tutoring industry who share these reservations.
An education leader, head and founder of Blue Education, who provides private tutors, commented that "the journey of becoming bicultural, or actually, discovering oneself, is something that must be lived into, not engineered."
The expert noted that he had relocated from Asia to the United Kingdom at the time of seven, and had been educated understanding and practicing dual heritages. He went on to learn at Cambridge University.
"The notion that one individual can serve as a embodiment of Britishness, an individual who can possibly transplant the attributes of a UK sophisticate onto a 12-month-old child, strikes me as naive and impractical," he wrote.
"Based on my background, engaging a quintessentially British tutor from infancy will not instantly achieve the result they want.
"I did not have such a tutor, and yet I have been privileged enough to experience numerous of the experiences they desire for their son."
He stated: "The reality is, personal identity cannot be imposed from the external environment; it must be chosen, and it must be internally driven."
Acquiring Englishness
Naturally, Britishness is something the expert hopes can be instructed – and marketed.
"I believe the situation that the global community holds us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating