"A household based in north London is looking for an remarkable and skilled instructor to assist their most junior child on his initial journey to becoming an English gentleman."
When reading this listing, you might easily miss the term "initial stages" as simple an expression.
Yet, it could be the crucial aspect of this unusual job advert, as it seeks to recruit a mentor for a 12-month-old.
Numerous of submissions have since been sent in since the anonymous family posted their call for the £180,000 per year tutor, who needs to be "a uniquely qualified person".
During the past few weeks, the post has gained notice in the press, with several wondering why?
Innovative Idea
A tutoring expert, head and founder of an education consultancy, which is supporting the family in their quest, stated that in spite of initial skepticism, he found the concept "far sighted", and "advanced".
When he consulted the family, he mentioned they understood the atypical nature of their demand, and how early in age their son is.
However, they explained that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had postponed until their firstborn was five, and by that age "cultural conditioning had already set in".
What exactly did the family indicate by "cultural leaning"?
It's "everything", Adam answered. "How you eat, the manner you speak".
He stated the older sibling had picked up "really subtle, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had assumed their cultural ways. The family told Adam they did not want this pattern to repeat itself with their new baby.
The strategy: To engage a UK tutor, who should speak with standard English accent, to guide the baby from day one.
Subtle Influence
"A lot of the education at the outset here is kind of absorbed naturally," said Adam.
It's through this subtle influence that the family are aiming the child will adopt the British traits they want to instil.
He noted the tutor needed to be someone who studied at "the right kinds of schools – the same kinds of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The educator just has to be the suitable individual, they'll be carrying out things they may not realize they're doing, effortlessly," he said.
Expense Not a Factor
The family told Adam the chosen tutor should ideally also have knowledge of or interest in horse riding, winter sports, the arts and instrumental training so as to influence the child in a broad spectrum of passions.
Furthermore though, he stated the family hoped the tutor to sign up the child on a variety of lessons 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 minds, assisting their son develop into a "British gentleman" will lead to achievement and create opportunities.
"Taking into account the pros and cons of that, because it's definitely a class statement," he comments.
But, in spite of all this guidance in "Britishness", would the child adopt what is termed cultural bias from the globally influenced family he lives with anyway?
"Certainly", answered Adam. "They understand this may not work, but they've simply adopted the view of, 'why not attempt it and we'll proceed as quickly as we can', because the expense of it is not a concern," he stated.
Impractical
There are some in the education sector who share those reservations.
Another CEO, chief executive of a tutoring service, who supplies private tutors, stated that "the journey of embracing two identities, or indeed, becoming oneself, is something that must be lived into, not engineered."
The expert noted that he had moved from Asia to the Britain at the time of 7 years old, and had been brought up understanding and practicing both cultures. He continued to learn at a prestigious UK institution.
"The idea that one individual can act as a living vessel of Britishness, a person who can in some way impart the characteristics of a UK sophisticate to a one-year-old child, strikes me as naive and impractical," he commented.
"In my experience, employing a quintessentially English tutor from infancy will will not necessarily produce the goal they want.
"I wasn't provided with that kind of mentor, and yet I have been privileged enough to live many of the experiences they hope for their son."
He stated: "The reality is, self-identity can not be forced from the external environment; it must be selected, and it must be internally driven."
Buying Britishness
Naturally, Britishness is something the CEO believes can be instructed – and commercialized.
"I believe the situation that the world holds us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
