"A household located in the northern part of London seeks an exceptional and skilled tutor to support their most junior child on his first steps to turning into an English gentleman."
When reading this advertisement, you might naturally miss the term "first-steps" as just figurative language.
However, it could be the most important aspect of this distinctive job advert, as it seeks to find a teacher for a 12-month-old.
Numerous of applications have since been sent in since the anonymous family posted their call for the highly paid tutor, who needs to be "an exceptional individual".
Over the last few weeks, the advert has gained interest across the news, with many asking why?
Forward-Thinking Method
The CEO, chief executive of a global tutoring firm, which is helping the family in their hunt, said that in spite of early doubt, he considered the plan "far sighted", and "advanced".
When he consulted the family, he mentioned they understood the unconventional nature of their requirement, and how immature their son is.
However, they stated that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to get a tutor, as they had waited until their older child was five, and by that point "cultural bias had by then become established".
What exactly did the family indicate by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "everything", he responded. "How you eat, the way you speak".
He stated the older sibling had picked up "very nuanced, body language" from the family, and had assumed their cultural ways. The family told Adam they did not want this pattern to recur with their infant.
The plan: To hire a English tutor, who should speak with Received Pronunciation, to shape the baby from the very start.
Natural Absorption
"Much of the education at the beginning here is kind of osmotic," explained Adam.
It's by means of this osmosis that the family are expecting the child will acquire the British traits they want to cultivate.
The consultant noted the tutor needed to be someone who went to "the appropriate educational institutions – similar types of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The instructor simply needs to be the suitable individual, they'll be carrying out things they don't even know they're doing, just naturally," he said.
Cost Not Relevant
The family told Adam the chosen tutor should ideally also have familiarity of or enthusiasm in riding, winter sports, artistic pursuits and music so as to inspire the child in a wide range of interests.
Additionally though, he stated the family desired the tutor to register the child on a variety of courses so the child would be "horseback riding and picking up an tool by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's perspective, helping their son grow into a "UK sophisticate" will result in success and open doors.
"For all the rights and wrongs of that, because it's certainly a class statement," he comments.
But, in spite of all this guidance in "UK identity", would the child pick up what is termed cultural bias from the international family he resides with in any case?
"Absolutely", answered the CEO. "The family realize this might not succeed, but they've just taken the attitude of, 'let's give it a go and we'll proceed as quickly as we can', because the expense of it is not a concern," he stated.
Impractical
There are some in the education sector who express these reservations.
Peter Cui, CEO and founder of an educational organization, who provides individual instructors, commented that "the process of embracing two identities, or indeed, becoming oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not designed."
He wrote that he had relocated from the Far East to the UK at the age of seven, and had been raised knowing and practicing dual heritages. He progressed to learn at the University of Cambridge.
"The concept that one individual can act as a representation of Britishness, a person who can possibly transplant the attributes of a British gentleman upon a 12-month-old child, appears naive and unfeasible," he commented.
"Based on my background, employing a distinctly UK tutor from early childhood will not necessarily create the outcome they want.
"I wasn't provided with such a tutor, and however I have been lucky enough to live many of the opportunities they hope for their son."
He continued: "The fact is, personal identity cannot be imposed from the external environment; it must be selected, and it must be internally driven."
Acquiring Englishness
Of course, English culture is something the expert believes can be taught – and marketed.
"In my view the situation that the world views us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
