"A household located in north London wants to find an remarkable and skilled educator to support their smallest child on his first steps to growing into an English gentleman."
When reading this advertisement, you might easily skip the wording "first-steps" as mere a turn of phrase.
But, it may be the most significant aspect of this unique employment listing, as it seeks to hire a mentor for a one-year-old.
Hundreds of submissions have now been sent in since the unnamed family advertised their search for the highly paid tutor, who needs to be "someone very special".
During the past few weeks, the advert has attracted interest in the news, with numerous asking why?
Progressive Approach
A tutoring expert, head and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is helping the family in their search, explained that in spite of first scepticism, he viewed the concept "visionary", and "progressive".
When he met the family, he noted they appreciated the atypical aspect of their demand, and how young their son is.
Nevertheless, they explained that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to get a tutor, as they had waited until their firstborn was five, and by that point "cultural conditioning had already set in".
What precisely does the family indicate by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "comprehensive", Adam responded. "How you eat, the manner you speak".
He stated the firstborn had picked up "very nuanced, body language" from the family, and had taken on their cultural norms. The family explained to the consultant they did not want history to repeat itself with their younger child.
The strategy: To bring in a UK tutor, who needs to speak with standard English accent, to influence the baby right from the beginning.
Natural Absorption
"A great deal of the development at the outset here is somewhat absorbed naturally," explained the expert.
It's through this osmosis that the family are expecting the child will acquire the English characteristics they aim to instil.
He explained the tutor had to be somebody who attended "prestigious academies – the same kinds of schools as the family hope 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, simply by nature," he added.
Money No Object
The family informed Adam the selected educator should preferably also have knowledge of or passion in riding, alpine skiing, the arts and music so as to shape the child in a wide range of passions.
Additionally though, he said the family wanted the tutor to register the child on a variety of lessons so the child would be "equestrian training and learning an instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's perspective, helping their son grow into a "English gentleman" will bring about accomplishment and provide access.
"Considering the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's undoubtedly a social class indicator," he notes.
But, despite all this tutelage in "UK identity", might the child adopt so-called cultural influence from the multicultural family he lives with regardless?
"Yes", replied he. "The family understand this may not work, but they've merely embraced the attitude of, 'we should try and we should start as soon as we can', because the cost of it is irrelevant," he stated.
Impractical
Several in the private teaching field who share these concerns.
Peter Cui, CEO and founder of an educational organization, who also offer personal educators, stated that "the journey of adopting dual cultures, or in fact, forming one's identity, is something that must be experienced personally, not designed."
He explained that he had relocated from the Far East to the UK at the period of childhood, and had been brought up experiencing and living two backgrounds. He continued to learn at the University of Cambridge.
"The idea that a single person can function as a living vessel of English culture, someone who can possibly impart the characteristics of a English gentleman to a one-year-old child, seems to me idealistic and impractical," he wrote.
"In my experience, employing a quintessentially UK tutor from early childhood will not instantly create the goal they desire.
"I never had such a figure, and nevertheless I have been privileged enough to experience numerous of the opportunities they desire for their son."
He added: "The truth is, self-identity can not be forced from the external environment; it must be selected, and it must originate internally."
Buying Britishness
Certainly, English culture is something the CEO thinks can be instructed – and sold.
"I believe the reality that the world holds us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
