"Parents located in North London is looking for an extraordinary and skilled tutor to support their youngest child on his early path to growing into an English gentleman."
Upon seeing this advertisement, you might readily miss the wording "beginning" as mere figurative language.
But, it could be the most significant part of this distinctive job advert, as it aims to recruit a mentor for a one-year-old.
Many of submissions have already been received since the anonymous family advertised their search for the £180,000 per year tutor, who has to be "a uniquely qualified person".
During the past few weeks, the post has received notice across the press, with several wondering why?
Progressive Approach
A tutoring expert, CEO and founder of an education consultancy, which is supporting the family in their quest, said that notwithstanding first skepticism, he viewed the plan "forward-looking", and "progressive".
When he spoke with the family, he mentioned they appreciated the unusual aspect of their request, and how young their son is.
Nevertheless, they clarified that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to get a tutor, as they had waited until their elder sibling was five, and by that stage "cultural influence had already set in".
What exactly did the family indicate by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "all-encompassing", Adam responded. "How you eat, the way you speak".
He stated the elder child had absorbed "extremely delicate, unspoken signals" from the family, and had taken on their cultural norms. The family explained to Adam they wished to avoid the same situation to repeat itself with their younger child.
The strategy: To engage a British tutor, who must speak with RP, to guide the baby from the very start.
Subtle Influence
"Much of the education at the outset here is somewhat absorbed naturally," explained the expert.
It's by means of this natural absorption that the family are aiming the child will adopt the British traits they wish to impart.
Adam said the tutor had to be someone who studied at "the appropriate educational institutions – comparable categories of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The instructor just has to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be carrying out things they aren't even aware they're doing, just naturally," he commented.
Expense Not a Factor
The family explained to Adam the selected educator should ideally also have knowledge of or interest in horse riding, winter sports, creative fields and music so as to shape the child in a diverse set of interests.
Additionally though, he stated the family hoped the tutor to register the child on a selection of courses so the child would be "pony-riding and starting an instrument 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 success and open doors.
"Taking into account the pros and cons of that, because it's definitely a status symbol," he notes.
But, in spite of all this tutelage in "Britishness", might the child pick up so-called cultural leaning from the multicultural family he resides with anyway?
"Certainly", answered the CEO. "They know this might not succeed, but they've merely embraced the attitude of, 'let's give it a go and let's go as soon as we can', because the cost of it is not relevant," he stated.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
There are some in the private teaching field who express these doubts.
Another CEO, CEO and founder of an educational organization, who provides private tutors, wrote that "the journey of embracing two identities, or in fact, becoming oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not engineered."
The expert explained that he had moved from the Far East to the UK at the time of seven, and had been educated understanding and living two backgrounds. He progressed to be educated at the University of Cambridge.
"The notion that one individual can serve as a representation of UK identity, a person who can possibly transplant the characteristics of a English gentleman to a one-year-old child, strikes me as idealistic and impractical," he commented.
"Based on my background, employing a quintessentially UK tutor from babyhood will will not instantly achieve the goal they desire.
"I never had that kind of mentor, and nevertheless I have been privileged enough to experience several of the situations they hope for their son."
He added: "The fact is, self-identity cannot be imposed from the outside; it must be embraced, and it must be internally driven."
Buying Britishness
Certainly, Britishness is something Adam thinks can be instructed – and marketed.
"I think the fact that the world holds us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
