"A family based in north London is looking for an extraordinary and experienced instructor to guide their most junior child on his initial journey to turning into an English gentleman."
When reading this advertisement, you might easily miss the phrase "initial stages" as simple an expression.
Yet, it might be the crucial element of this distinctive job advert, as it attempts to find a mentor for a infant.
Hundreds of applications have now been submitted since the unnamed family posted their call for the highly paid tutor, who has to be "someone very special".
In recent few weeks, the advert has gained attention across the press, with numerous questioning why?
Forward-Thinking Method
The CEO, CEO and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is helping the family in their hunt, stated that in spite of early skepticism, he found the concept "forward-looking", and "advanced".
When he consulted the family, he mentioned they recognized the unusual character of their request, and how young their son is.
However, they stated that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to get a tutor, as they had postponed until their older child was five, and by that stage "cultural bias had already taken hold".
But what did the family refer to by "cultural bias"?
It's "all-encompassing", the expert answered. "The manner you eat, how you speak".
He explained the firstborn had picked up "extremely delicate, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had taken on their cultural habits. The family explained to Adam they did not want the same situation to recur with their younger child.
The strategy: To engage a English tutor, who must speak with standard English accent, to influence the baby from the very start.
Natural Absorption
"Much of the education at the outset here is somewhat osmotic," said Adam.
It's by means of this osmosis that the family are aiming the child will pick up the UK customs they wish to instil.
Adam said the tutor had to be someone who went to "prestigious academies – similar types of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The tutor just has to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be doing things they aren't even aware they're doing, simply by nature," he said.
Cost Not Relevant
The family informed him the chosen tutor should ideally also have familiarity of or passion in riding, skiing, the arts and musical activities so as to shape the child in a wide range of hobbies.
More than that though, he stated the family hoped the tutor to register the child on a range of courses so the child would be "horseback riding and starting an instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's minds, assisting their son become a "British gentleman" will lead to success and create opportunities.
"Taking into account the pros and cons of that, because it's undoubtedly a status symbol," he notes.
But, in spite of all this guidance in "UK identity", might the child adopt so-called cultural influence from the multicultural family he lives with regardless?
"Absolutely", answered he. "The family understand this may not work, but they've merely embraced the perspective of, 'we should try and let's go as quickly as we can', because the price of it is not a concern," he stated.
Impractical
There are some in the education sector who have these doubts.
Another CEO, head and founder of a tutoring service, who provides individual instructors, commented that "the development of embracing two identities, or indeed, becoming oneself, is something that must be grown into, not engineered."
The expert explained that he had emigrated from the Far East to the Britain at the period of childhood, and had been brought up knowing and embodying dual heritages. He progressed to be educated at Cambridge University.
"The notion that one individual can act as a embodiment of Britishness, a person who can in some way transfer the qualities of a UK sophisticate to a one-year-old child, strikes me as optimistic and unrealistic," he stated.
"In my experience, engaging a typically UK tutor from early childhood will does not necessarily achieve the result they desire.
"I wasn't provided with such a tutor, and however I have been privileged enough to live many of the experiences they hope for their son."
He added: "The reality is, self-identity can not be forced from the external environment; it must be embraced, and it must come from within."
Purchasing UK Culture
Of course, Britishness is something the expert hopes can be taught – and sold.
"I believe the reality that the global community regards us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
