"Parents located in North London seeks an remarkable and skilled tutor to support their smallest child on his initial journey to growing into an British gentleman."
Upon seeing this advertisement, you might readily overlook the phrase "initial stages" as mere figurative language.
However, it may be the crucial part of this unusual job advert, as it aims to recruit a teacher for a one-year-old.
Many of submissions have already been sent in since the unnamed family advertised their search for the £180k-a-year tutor, who must be "a uniquely qualified person".
During the past few weeks, the advert has attracted interest throughout the media, with numerous wondering why?
Progressive Approach
The CEO, CEO and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is supporting the family in their search, explained that in spite of initial doubt, he considered the plan "visionary", and "advanced".
When he consulted the family, he mentioned they recognized the atypical nature of their demand, and how immature their son is.
But, they stated that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had postponed until their older child was five, and by that stage "cultural influence had already taken hold".
What precisely did the family mean by "cultural leaning"?
It's "everything", he responded. "The manner you eat, the way you speak".
He explained the firstborn had picked up "very nuanced, body language" from the family, and had taken on their cultural ways. The family explained to Adam they wished to avoid this pattern to recur with their younger child.
The plan: To bring in a British tutor, who should speak with Received Pronunciation, to influence the baby from day one.
Subtle Influence
"Much of the learning at the start here is kind of absorbed naturally," stated Adam.
It's by means of this osmosis that the family are expecting the child will pick up the English characteristics they wish to impart.
Adam said the tutor needed to be someone who studied at "prestigious academies – similar types of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The tutor must be the right kind of person, they'll be doing things they don't even know they're doing, just naturally," he said.
Expense Not a Factor
The family informed the expert the chosen tutor should ideally also have understanding of or passion in horse riding, alpine skiing, artistic pursuits and instrumental training so as to inspire the child in a wide range of hobbies.
More than that though, he explained the family hoped the tutor to enrol the child on a range of lessons so the child would be "horseback riding and picking up an instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's view, assisting their son become a "English gentleman" will lead to success and create opportunities.
"Considering the rights and wrongs of that, because it's certainly a class statement," he comments.
However, notwithstanding all this guidance in "UK identity", could the child adopt so-called cultural bias from the multicultural family he lives with in any case?
"Certainly", replied Adam. "They understand this might not succeed, but they've merely embraced the view of, 'let's give it a go and we'll proceed as soon as we can', because the price of it is not relevant," he stated.
Overly Optimistic
A number of in the education sector who have those reservations.
An education leader, head and founder of an educational organization, who supplies individual instructors, stated that "the journey of becoming bicultural, or indeed, discovering oneself, is something that must be grown into, not engineered."
He noted that he had moved from China to the Britain at the age of childhood, and had been brought up experiencing and practicing dual heritages. He continued to be educated at a prestigious UK institution.
"The notion that a single person can serve as a representation of Britishness, someone who can in some way transplant the attributes of a British gentleman to a 12-month-old child, appears optimistic and unfeasible," he commented.
"In my experience, engaging a quintessentially English tutor from infancy will will not automatically create the result they want.
"I wasn't provided with such a figure, and yet I have been fortunate enough to enjoy numerous of the situations they aspire for their son."
He continued: "The truth is, self-identity should not be dictated from the outside influences; it must be embraced, and it must come from within."
Buying Britishness
Naturally, UK identity is something Adam hopes can be instructed – and commercialized.
"I think the reality that the international society views us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating