"A family residing in north London is looking for an exceptional and skilled instructor to assist their most junior child on his initial journey to becoming an English gentleman."
Looking at this advertisement, you might naturally overlook the phrase "initial stages" as mere an expression.
However, it might be the most important aspect of this distinctive position posting, as it aims to recruit a mentor for a infant.
Many of applications have since been sent in since the unnamed family posted their call for the £180k-a-year tutor, who must be "someone very special".
During the past few weeks, the advert has gained attention in the media, with several asking why?
Forward-Thinking Method
The CEO, head and founder of an education consultancy, which is helping the family in their hunt, explained that despite initial doubt, he considered the plan "visionary", and "innovative".
When he met the family, he noted they appreciated the atypical aspect of their demand, and how immature their son is.
But, they explained that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had postponed until their firstborn was five, and by that point "cultural bias had by then set in".
What precisely does the family indicate by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "all-encompassing", he replied. "How you eat, how you speak".
He explained the firstborn had adopted "extremely delicate, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had assumed their cultural habits. The family explained to Adam they wished to avoid this pattern to recur with their infant.
The plan: To hire a English tutor, who should speak with Received Pronunciation, to shape the baby right from the beginning.
Osmotic Learning
"A great deal of the development at the outset here is somewhat acquired indirectly," stated the CEO.
It's via this natural absorption that the family are expecting the child will acquire the British traits they wish to impart.
Adam explained the tutor must be an individual who attended "prestigious academies – comparable categories of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The tutor must be the right kind of person, they'll be doing things they may not realize they're doing, just naturally," he added.
Expense Not a Factor
The family explained to him the successful candidate should preferably also have understanding of or interest in riding, winter sports, the arts and instrumental training so as to influence the child in a wide range of passions.
More than that though, he said the family desired the tutor to enrol the child on a selection of classes so the child would be "horseback riding and learning an instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's view, assisting their son grow into a "British gentleman" will lead to success and provide access.
"Taking into account the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's certainly a social class indicator," he comments.
But, notwithstanding all this instruction in "UK identity", might the child adopt alleged cultural influence from the globally influenced family he is raised by in any case?
"Yes", replied Adam. "The parents realize this might not succeed, but they've just taken the perspective of, 'why not attempt it and we'll proceed as soon as we can', because the expense of it is not relevant," he said.
Overly Optimistic
Several in the private teaching field who have similar concerns.
Peter Cui, chief executive of Blue Education, who supplies individual instructors, wrote that "the process of becoming bicultural, or in fact, becoming oneself, is something that must be grown into, not designed."
He noted that he had emigrated from Asia to the United Kingdom at the age of 7 years old, and had been brought up understanding and embodying dual heritages. He progressed to study at the University of Cambridge.
"The concept that a single person can serve as a embodiment of English culture, an individual who can in some way transplant the characteristics of a English gentleman onto a one-year-old child, strikes me as idealistic and unrealistic," he commented.
"From my perspective, employing a distinctly UK tutor from early childhood will not necessarily achieve the outcome they want.
"I did not have that kind of mentor, and however I have been privileged enough to enjoy several of the experiences they aspire for their son."
He continued: "The reality is, self-identity can not be dictated from the outside influences; it must be chosen, and it must be internally driven."
Acquiring Englishness
Of course, Britishness is something the expert thinks can be instructed – and sold.
"I believe the reality that the global community holds us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
