"A household based in north London wants to find an exceptional and qualified instructor to support their most junior child on his first steps to becoming an British gentleman."
Looking at this advertisement, you might easily overlook the phrase "first-steps" as simple an expression.
However, it might be the crucial part of this distinctive employment listing, as it seeks to find a teacher for a 12-month-old.
Many of submissions have now been received since the unidentified family posted their request for the highly paid tutor, who needs to be "a uniquely qualified person".
Over the last few weeks, the post has received interest throughout the news, with several wondering why?
Progressive Approach
A tutoring expert, CEO and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is supporting the family in their quest, stated that despite initial skepticism, he viewed the concept "forward-looking", and "advanced".
When he spoke with the family, he noted they appreciated the unusual nature of their requirement, and how early in age their son is.
But, they explained that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to get a tutor, as they had waited until their firstborn was five, and by that stage "cultural conditioning had already taken hold".
What precisely does the family refer to by "cultural bias"?
It's "comprehensive", Adam replied. "The manner you eat, how you speak".
He stated the firstborn had absorbed "extremely delicate, unspoken signals" from the family, and had taken on their cultural habits. The family informed the consultant they hoped to prevent this pattern to repeat itself with their new baby.
The plan: To bring in a English tutor, who needs to speak with RP, to guide the baby right from the beginning.
Subtle Influence
"Much of the learning at the beginning here is somewhat osmotic," said Adam.
It's by means of this natural absorption that the family are hoping the child will acquire the British traits they aim to cultivate.
Adam noted the tutor had to be someone who studied at "the appropriate educational institutions – comparable categories of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The instructor just has to be the right kind of person, they'll be performing things they aren't even aware they're doing, effortlessly," he said.
Money No Object
The family informed Adam the successful candidate should preferably also have understanding of or interest in equestrian activities, winter sports, artistic pursuits and musical activities so as to shape the child in a broad spectrum of hobbies.
Furthermore though, he explained the family wanted the tutor to register the child on a range of classes so the child would be "pony-riding and learning an musical instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's minds, assisting their son develop into a "UK sophisticate" will lead to accomplishment and provide access.
"Considering the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's definitely a class statement," he adds.
Yet, notwithstanding all this tutelage in "UK identity", could the child pick up what is termed cultural leaning from the multicultural family he resides with in any case?
"Yes", said he. "They realize this might not succeed, but they've simply adopted the attitude of, 'why not attempt it and let's go as soon as we can', because the price of it is not a concern," he stated.
Impractical
A number of in the tutoring industry who express similar reservations.
Another CEO, chief executive of a tutoring service, who provides private tutors, stated that "the process of embracing two identities, or actually, becoming oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not manufactured."
He noted that he had moved from the Far East to the UK at the time of childhood, and had been educated knowing and practicing both cultures. He continued to be educated at a prestigious UK institution.
"The concept that one individual can serve as a living vessel of English culture, someone who can possibly impart the attributes of a UK sophisticate onto a 12-month-old child, strikes me as idealistic and unrealistic," he stated.
"In my experience, engaging a distinctly English tutor from babyhood will does not instantly create the goal they hope for.
"I wasn't provided with such a tutor, and yet I have been lucky enough to live several of the situations they desire for their son."
He continued: "The reality is, cultural identity should not be imposed from the external environment; it must be embraced, and it must come from within."
Acquiring Englishness
Naturally, English culture is something Adam thinks can be instructed – and commercialized.
"In my view the situation that the world views us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
