"Parents located in north London wants to find an remarkable and skilled instructor to guide their smallest child on his early path to becoming an English gentleman."
When reading this advertisement, you might readily skip the phrase "beginning" as just a turn of phrase.
However, it could be the crucial element of this distinctive position posting, as it aims to recruit a mentor for a one-year-old.
Hundreds of responses have already been sent in since the unnamed family published their call for the £180k-a-year tutor, who needs to be "an exceptional individual".
In recent few weeks, the advert has gained notice across the news, with numerous questioning why?
Progressive Approach
The CEO, head and founder of an education consultancy, which is helping the family in their search, explained that in spite of early skepticism, he considered the plan "visionary", and "progressive".
When he consulted the family, he mentioned they recognized the atypical aspect of their demand, and how early in age their son is.
Nevertheless, they explained that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had postponed until their older child was five, and by that point "cultural bias had by then become established".
What exactly did the family indicate by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "everything", the expert answered. "The way you eat, how you speak".
He stated the elder child had picked up "really subtle, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had adopted their cultural habits. The family explained to Adam they wished to avoid this pattern to repeat itself with their younger child.
The intention: To hire a UK tutor, who needs to speak with Received Pronunciation, to guide the baby from the very start.
Natural Absorption
"Much of the development at the start here is rather osmotic," explained the expert.
It's via this subtle influence that the family are hoping the child will adopt the English characteristics they wish to impart.
Adam noted the tutor had to be someone who attended "prestigious academies – similar types of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The instructor simply needs to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be performing things they aren't even aware they're doing, effortlessly," he commented.
Money No Object
The family informed him the successful candidate should preferably also have knowledge of or passion in riding, winter sports, the arts and music so as to shape the child in a diverse set of passions.
More than that though, he said the family hoped the tutor to enrol the child on a variety of classes so the child would be "pony-riding and starting an tool by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's minds, helping their son develop into a "UK sophisticate" will bring about accomplishment and open doors.
"For all the pros and cons of that, because it's certainly a social class indicator," he adds.
Yet, notwithstanding all this guidance in "UK identity", might the child pick up so-called cultural influence from the multicultural family he resides with anyway?
"Yes", answered Adam. "The parents understand this could fail, but they've just taken the view of, 'why not attempt it and we'll proceed as soon as we can', because the price of it is not a concern," he explained.
Overly Optimistic
Several in the tutoring industry who express similar reservations.
An education leader, CEO and founder of Blue Education, who provides private tutors, commented that "the development of adopting dual cultures, or in fact, forming one's identity, is something that must be experienced personally, not engineered."
The expert wrote that he had moved from China to the UK at the time of childhood, and had been brought up knowing and practicing both cultures. He continued to learn at the University of Cambridge.
"The concept that a single person can function as a embodiment of UK identity, an individual who can possibly transfer the qualities of a British gentleman upon a infant child, strikes me as optimistic and unrealistic," he commented.
"From my perspective, having a quintessentially English tutor from babyhood will does not instantly produce the result they hope for.
"I did not have that kind of mentor, and nevertheless I have been lucky enough to enjoy many of the opportunities they aspire for their son."
He continued: "The reality is, self-identity cannot be imposed from the outside; it must be chosen, and it must come from within."
Buying Britishness
Certainly, UK identity is something the expert hopes can be taught – and sold.
"I believe the reality that the world regards us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
