"A family based in the northern part of London seeks an extraordinary and skilled tutor to guide their youngest child on his first steps to becoming an British gentleman."
When reading this post, you might naturally overlook the term "first-steps" as simple figurative language.
However, it could be the most significant element of this unusual job advert, as it attempts to find a teacher for a one-year-old.
Hundreds of responses have now been sent in since the unnamed family advertised their request for the £180k-a-year tutor, who needs to be "an exceptional individual".
Over the last few weeks, the advert has attracted attention across the news, with several questioning why?
Progressive Approach
The CEO, CEO and founder of Tutors International, which is helping the family in their search, stated that in spite of first scepticism, he viewed the concept "forward-looking", and "innovative".
When he met the family, he noted they recognized the unconventional nature of their demand, and how young their son is.
However, they explained that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to get a tutor, as they had waited until their firstborn was five, and by that point "cultural influence had by then become established".
What precisely does the family indicate by "cultural bias"?
It's "comprehensive", Adam replied. "The manner you eat, the manner you speak".
He stated the elder child had picked up "extremely delicate, unspoken signals" from the family, and had assumed their cultural ways. The family explained to him they hoped to prevent this pattern to happen again with their younger child.
The strategy: To engage a English tutor, who needs to speak with RP, to influence the baby right from the beginning.
Subtle Influence
"A lot of the learning at the outset here is rather absorbed naturally," said the expert.
It's by means of this osmosis that the family are hoping the child will pick up the UK customs they wish to impart.
The consultant said the tutor must be an individual who studied at "the appropriate educational institutions – comparable categories of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The tutor must be the appropriate candidate, they'll be performing things they don't even know they're doing, simply by nature," he commented.
Money No Object
The family told Adam the chosen tutor should ideally also have familiarity of or enthusiasm in equestrian activities, winter sports, creative fields and music so as to inspire the child in a wide range of hobbies.
Additionally though, he stated the family hoped the tutor to sign up the child on a range of classes so the child would be "equestrian training and starting an musical instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's view, helping their son become a "UK sophisticate" will result in accomplishment and provide access.
"Taking into account the pros and cons of that, because it's undoubtedly a class statement," he notes.
But, despite all this tutelage in "English culture", would the child adopt what is termed cultural leaning from the international family he resides with in any case?
"Yes", answered Adam. "The parents realize this could fail, but they've merely embraced the attitude of, 'let's give it a go and let's go as quickly as we can', because the price of it is irrelevant," he stated.
Overly Optimistic
Several in the tutoring industry who express those reservations.
Peter Cui, head and founder of Blue Education, who supplies private tutors, wrote that "the process of becoming bicultural, or in fact, forming one's identity, is something that must be lived into, not engineered."
Peter wrote that he had moved from China to the United Kingdom at the period of seven, and had been raised understanding and practicing dual heritages. He went on to learn at a prestigious UK institution.
"The idea that one individual can function as a embodiment of UK identity, a person who can possibly transplant the attributes of a UK sophisticate upon a 12-month-old child, appears idealistic and impractical," he commented.
"In my experience, engaging a distinctly British tutor from babyhood will not automatically achieve the result they desire.
"I wasn't provided with such a tutor, and yet I have been fortunate enough to live numerous of the opportunities they hope for their son."
He continued: "The reality is, cultural identity should not be forced from the outside; it must be chosen, and it must be internally driven."
Buying Britishness
Of course, UK identity is something the CEO hopes can be educated – and marketed.
"I believe the reality that the international society holds us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
