"A household based in north London is looking for an extraordinary and qualified educator to assist their smallest child on his first steps to turning into an British gentleman."
Looking at this advertisement, you might naturally overlook the phrase "initial stages" as just a turn of phrase.
However, it might be the most significant aspect of this distinctive job advert, as it attempts to find a tutor for a one-year-old.
Many of submissions have since been sent in since the unidentified family posted their request for the highly paid tutor, who needs to be "a uniquely qualified person".
During the past few weeks, the post has received attention across the news, with several wondering why?
Forward-Thinking Method
The CEO, chief executive of Tutors International, which is helping the family in their search, explained that in spite of early doubt, he considered the idea "far sighted", and "progressive".
When he consulted the family, he mentioned they understood the unusual character of their demand, and how young their son is.
But, they stated that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had waited until their elder sibling was five, and by that stage "cultural bias had already become established".
But what did the family refer to by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "everything", the expert responded. "How you eat, the way you speak".
He stated the firstborn had adopted "very nuanced, unspoken signals" from the family, and had adopted their cultural ways. The family told the consultant they wished to avoid this pattern to repeat itself with their younger child.
The plan: To bring in a English tutor, who needs to speak with Received Pronunciation, to guide the baby right from the beginning.
Osmotic Learning
"A great deal of the learning at the start here is kind of acquired indirectly," explained the CEO.
It's through this osmosis that the family are aiming the child will acquire the British traits they want to cultivate.
He said the tutor needed to be somebody who attended "the appropriate educational institutions – similar types of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The educator must be the appropriate candidate, they'll be doing things they aren't even aware they're doing, simply by nature," he said.
Expense Not a Factor
The family told Adam the successful candidate should ideally also have knowledge of or interest in riding, skiing, artistic pursuits and musical activities so as to inspire the child in a wide range of interests.
Additionally though, he said the family hoped the tutor to enrol the child on a variety of lessons so the child would be "equestrian training and learning an tool by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's minds, helping their son grow into a "British gentleman" will bring about accomplishment and open doors.
"Taking into account the rights and wrongs of that, because it's certainly a status symbol," he adds.
Yet, notwithstanding all this tutelage in "English culture", could the child absorb alleged cultural leaning from the international family he is raised by in any case?
"Yes", answered Adam. "The parents understand this might not succeed, but they've merely embraced the attitude of, 'we should try and we should start as quickly as we can', because the price of it is irrelevant," he stated.
Impractical
Several in the private teaching field who express those concerns.
An education leader, chief executive of an educational organization, who supplies personal educators, commented that "the process of becoming bicultural, or indeed, discovering oneself, is something that must be grown into, not engineered."
He noted that he had relocated from Asia to the UK at the time of 7 years old, and had been brought up understanding and living both cultures. He continued to learn at a prestigious UK institution.
"The idea that a single person can act as a representation of UK identity, a person who can in some way transplant the characteristics of a English gentleman to a one-year-old child, appears optimistic and unfeasible," he wrote.
"In my experience, employing a quintessentially British tutor from early childhood will will not automatically create the outcome they hope for.
"I never had such a figure, and however I have been lucky enough to enjoy many of the experiences they aspire for their son."
He continued: "The truth is, personal identity can not be dictated from the outside; it must be selected, and it must be internally driven."
Acquiring Englishness
Of course, UK identity is something Adam believes can be instructed – and sold.
"I believe the situation that the world holds us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
