"A family located in the northern part of London is looking for an exceptional and skilled tutor to guide their youngest child on his first steps to becoming an English gentleman."
When reading this post, you might easily overlook the phrase "first-steps" as just a turn of phrase.
But, it may be the most important aspect of this unusual employment listing, as it seeks to find a teacher for a 12-month-old.
Hundreds of responses have already been sent in since the anonymous family published their request for the highly paid tutor, who must be "an exceptional individual".
Over the last few weeks, the listing has gained notice throughout the press, with several wondering why?
Progressive Approach
The CEO, head and founder of Tutors International, which is helping the family in their hunt, said that notwithstanding initial scepticism, he considered the idea "far sighted", and "progressive".
When he spoke with the family, he mentioned they recognized the unconventional character of their requirement, and how immature their son is.
But, they clarified that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had held off until their older child was five, and by that point "cultural bias had by then taken hold".
But what did the family refer to by "cultural leaning"?
It's "everything", Adam replied. "The manner you eat, how you speak".
He said the older sibling had absorbed "extremely delicate, body language" from the family, and had assumed their cultural ways. The family informed the consultant they hoped to prevent history to happen again with their younger child.
The intention: To bring in a English tutor, who must speak with Received Pronunciation, to influence the baby from the very start.
Osmotic Learning
"A lot of the education at the start here is kind of acquired indirectly," explained the expert.
It's through this subtle influence that the family are expecting the child will adopt the British traits they wish to instil.
The consultant explained the tutor had to be somebody who went to "prestigious academies – similar types of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The tutor just has to be the right kind of person, they'll be doing things they may not realize they're doing, effortlessly," he said.
Money No Object
The family told Adam the chosen tutor should preferably also have familiarity of or passion in equestrian activities, skiing, the arts and instrumental training so as to influence the child in a broad spectrum of interests.
Furthermore though, he explained the family desired the tutor to register the child on a variety of lessons so the child would be "pony-riding and picking up an tool by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's minds, assisting their son grow into a "UK sophisticate" will lead to accomplishment and provide access.
"Considering the rights and wrongs of that, because it's certainly a social class indicator," he notes.
Yet, notwithstanding all this guidance in "English culture", might the child absorb alleged cultural influence from the international family he resides with anyway?
"Yes", said the CEO. "They realize this may not work, but they've just taken the view of, 'let's give it a go and we should start as early as we can', because the price of it is irrelevant," he explained.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
There are some in the education sector who share those concerns.
Peter Cui, chief executive of an educational organization, who provides private tutors, stated that "the process of becoming bicultural, or actually, becoming oneself, is something that must be lived into, not manufactured."
The expert explained that he had emigrated from the Far East to the UK at the time of seven, and had been educated experiencing and practicing two backgrounds. He progressed to study at the University of Cambridge.
"The concept that an individual can act as a embodiment of UK identity, a person who can possibly impart the qualities of a UK sophisticate to a one-year-old child, strikes me as naive and unrealistic," he wrote.
"Based on my background, having a quintessentially English tutor from infancy will will not necessarily achieve the result they desire.
"I wasn't provided with that kind of mentor, and yet I have been lucky enough to enjoy many of the experiences they aspire for their son."
He stated: "The reality is, self-identity should not be forced from the outside; it must be embraced, and it must come from within."
Buying Britishness
Of course, UK identity is something the CEO thinks can be educated – and marketed.
"I believe the reality that the global community regards us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
