"A family residing in the northern part of London wants to find an exceptional and experienced instructor to guide their most junior child on his first steps to becoming an British gentleman."
When reading this listing, you might easily overlook the wording "beginning" as just figurative language.
But, it may be the most significant aspect of this unique job advert, as it aims to hire a teacher for a infant.
Hundreds of responses have already been submitted since the unidentified family advertised their search for the £180,000 per year tutor, who must be "a uniquely qualified person".
During the past few weeks, the advert has gained interest across the news, with many wondering why?
Innovative Idea
The CEO, chief executive of a global tutoring firm, which is assisting the family in their hunt, stated that despite early skepticism, he considered the idea "visionary", and "progressive".
When he spoke with the family, he noted they appreciated the unconventional aspect of their request, and how early in age their son is.
However, they explained that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to get a tutor, as they had postponed until their older child was five, and by that stage "cultural conditioning had by then taken hold".
What exactly does the family mean by "cultural leaning"?
It's "everything", the expert answered. "The way you eat, how you speak".
He explained the firstborn had picked up "very nuanced, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had assumed their cultural norms. The family explained to him they wished to avoid the same situation to recur with their new baby.
The plan: To hire a UK tutor, who must speak with Received Pronunciation, to guide the baby from day one.
Osmotic Learning
"Much of the development at the beginning here is somewhat acquired indirectly," explained the expert.
It's through this osmosis that the family are hoping the child will adopt the British traits they aim to instil.
He explained the tutor had to be an individual who attended "prestigious academies – comparable categories of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The educator simply needs to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be carrying out things they aren't even aware they're doing, effortlessly," he said.
Cost Not Relevant
The family informed him the successful candidate should ideally also have understanding of or passion in equestrian activities, winter sports, artistic pursuits and instrumental training so as to influence the child in a broad spectrum of passions.
Additionally though, he explained the family hoped the tutor to register the child on a selection of lessons so the child would be "pony-riding and picking up an musical 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 create opportunities.
"Taking into account the rights and wrongs of that, because it's certainly a class statement," he adds.
However, despite all this tutelage in "Britishness", could the child absorb what is termed cultural leaning from the globally influenced family he lives with anyway?
"Yes", said the CEO. "They understand this may not work, but they've simply adopted the perspective of, 'why not attempt it and we should start as soon as we can', because the expense of it is not a concern," he said.
Impractical
There are some in the tutoring industry who have these doubts.
Peter Cui, head and founder of a tutoring service, who provides individual instructors, wrote that "the process of adopting dual cultures, or in fact, forming one's identity, is something that must be grown into, not manufactured."
He noted that he had moved from Asia to the UK at the period of 7 years old, and had been raised understanding and living two backgrounds. He went on to learn at a prestigious UK institution.
"The idea that one individual can serve as a living vessel of English culture, an individual who can somehow transfer the characteristics of a British gentleman upon a one-year-old child, strikes me as naive and unfeasible," he wrote.
"From my perspective, employing a distinctly British tutor from early childhood will does not automatically create the goal they want.
"I did not have that kind of mentor, and yet I have been privileged enough to experience numerous of the opportunities they desire for their son."
He added: "The reality is, self-identity cannot be imposed from the outside influences; it must be selected, and it must originate internally."
Buying Britishness
Of course, UK identity is something Adam hopes can be instructed – and sold.
"I think the situation that the international society regards us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
