"A household located in north London is looking for an remarkable and qualified tutor to support their smallest child on his first steps to becoming an English gentleman."
Looking at this post, you might easily overlook the phrase "first-steps" as simple figurative language.
Yet, it might be the most important part of this distinctive employment listing, as it attempts to find a teacher for a 12-month-old.
Hundreds of applications have already been sent in since the unnamed family posted their search for the £180,000 per year tutor, who has to be "an exceptional individual".
During the past few weeks, the listing has received interest throughout the news, with several questioning why?
Progressive Approach
A tutoring expert, chief executive of a global tutoring firm, which is helping the family in their hunt, said that in spite of initial skepticism, he considered the plan "far sighted", and "innovative".
When he consulted the family, he said they understood the atypical nature of their requirement, and how young their son is.
But, they stated that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to get a tutor, as they had waited until their older child was five, and by that stage "cultural conditioning had already set in".
What precisely did the family refer to by "cultural bias"?
It's "all-encompassing", he replied. "The way you eat, the way you speak".
He explained the elder child had adopted "extremely delicate, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had adopted their cultural norms. The family explained to the consultant they did not want this pattern to happen again with their new baby.
The plan: To bring in a English tutor, who needs to speak with Received Pronunciation, to influence the baby right from the beginning.
Osmotic Learning
"Much of the education at the beginning here is rather absorbed naturally," stated the CEO.
It's through this subtle influence that the family are expecting the child will acquire the British traits they want to cultivate.
He explained the tutor had to be an individual who went to "the right kinds of schools – comparable categories of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The educator just has to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be performing things they don't even know they're doing, just naturally," he said.
Cost Not Relevant
The family explained to him the chosen tutor should preferably also have familiarity of or interest in riding, alpine skiing, the arts and musical activities so as to influence the child in a diverse set of interests.
More than that though, he said the family desired the tutor to register the child on a range of lessons so the child would be "pony-riding and starting an tool by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's perspective, assisting their son become a "English gentleman" will lead to success and open doors.
"Taking into account the rights and wrongs of that, because it's undoubtedly a social class indicator," he notes.
However, notwithstanding all this guidance in "UK identity", could the child absorb what is termed cultural influence from the globally influenced family he is raised by in any case?
"Yes", said Adam. "The family realize this could fail, but they've just taken the attitude of, 'we should try and we should start as quickly as we can', because the cost of it is not a concern," he stated.
Overly Optimistic
There are some in the education sector who have these concerns.
Peter Cui, chief executive of a tutoring service, who supplies personal educators, wrote that "the journey of embracing two identities, or in fact, discovering oneself, is something that must be grown into, not designed."
The expert noted that he had relocated from China to the UK at the age of 7 years old, and had been brought up experiencing and practicing dual heritages. He went on to learn at a prestigious UK institution.
"The idea that an individual can serve as a representation of English culture, a person who can possibly transplant the qualities of a British gentleman onto a 12-month-old child, seems to me naive and unfeasible," he commented.
"Based on my background, employing a distinctly UK tutor from infancy will does not automatically achieve the result they hope for.
"I never had such a tutor, and yet I have been privileged enough to enjoy numerous of the experiences they hope for their son."
He continued: "The reality is, self-identity cannot be dictated from the external environment; it must be chosen, and it must be internally driven."
Buying Britishness
Certainly, Britishness is something Adam thinks can be educated – and sold.
"In my view the reality that the world holds us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
