"A household based in North London is looking for an extraordinary and experienced educator to support their smallest child on his first steps to turning into an British gentleman."
When reading this advertisement, you might naturally miss the wording "initial stages" as mere figurative language.
Yet, it might be the most important aspect of this unusual employment listing, as it aims to find a mentor for a one-year-old.
Numerous of responses have since been submitted since the anonymous family posted their search for the £180k-a-year tutor, who must be "someone very special".
During the past few weeks, the advert has gained attention throughout the press, with several wondering why?
Progressive Approach
The CEO, chief executive of Tutors International, which is assisting the family in their search, said that notwithstanding early skepticism, he viewed the concept "forward-looking", and "progressive".
When he consulted the family, he noted they appreciated the atypical aspect of their requirement, and how early in age their son is.
However, they stated that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had postponed until their elder sibling was five, and by that stage "cultural influence had already taken hold".
But what did the family mean by "cultural leaning"?
It's "all-encompassing", he answered. "The manner you eat, how you speak".
He explained the elder child had absorbed "extremely delicate, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had taken on their cultural habits. The family informed Adam they hoped to prevent the same situation to recur with their infant.
The intention: To hire a UK tutor, who should speak with Received Pronunciation, to guide the baby from day one.
Natural Absorption
"A lot of the learning at the outset here is somewhat absorbed naturally," stated the CEO.
It's through this natural absorption that the family are aiming the child will acquire the British traits they want to instil.
The consultant noted the tutor must be someone who went to "the right kinds of schools – the same kinds of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The educator just has to be the right kind of person, they'll be carrying out things they aren't even aware they're doing, effortlessly," he added.
Expense Not a Factor
The family informed the expert the chosen tutor should ideally also have understanding of or enthusiasm in horse riding, winter sports, the arts and music so as to shape the child in a broad spectrum of interests.
Additionally though, he said the family desired the tutor to register the child on a selection of courses so the child would be "pony-riding and starting an musical instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's view, helping their son develop into a "British gentleman" will lead to success and provide access.
"For all the rights and wrongs of that, because it's certainly a status symbol," he notes.
But, notwithstanding all this tutelage in "Britishness", could the child absorb alleged cultural bias from the international family he resides with anyway?
"Absolutely", said the CEO. "The family understand this could fail, but they've merely embraced the perspective of, 'why not attempt it and we should start as quickly as we can', because the price of it is irrelevant," he stated.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
There are some in the tutoring industry who have those doubts.
An education leader, chief executive of a tutoring service, who also offer individual instructors, commented that "the process of adopting dual cultures, or indeed, discovering oneself, is something that must be lived into, not engineered."
The expert explained that he had emigrated from the Far East to the UK at the age of childhood, and had been educated knowing and practicing two backgrounds. He progressed to be educated at Cambridge University.
"The concept that a single person can serve as a living vessel of Britishness, a person who can in some way transplant the qualities of a British gentleman to a one-year-old child, strikes me as idealistic and unrealistic," he stated.
"In my experience, having a quintessentially English tutor from early childhood will does not instantly produce the outcome they hope for.
"I wasn't provided with such a tutor, and yet I have been lucky enough to enjoy several of the situations they aspire for their son."
He added: "The reality is, personal identity cannot be forced from the external environment; it must be selected, and it must be internally driven."
Buying Britishness
Naturally, Britishness is something Adam hopes can be educated – and sold.
"In my view the fact that the international society views us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
