"Parents residing in north London is looking for an exceptional and skilled instructor to support their youngest child on his first steps to turning into an British gentleman."
Upon seeing this advertisement, you might easily miss the wording "first-steps" as mere a turn of phrase.
However, it might be the crucial part of this distinctive position posting, as it seeks to find a tutor for a infant.
Many of responses have already been sent in since the unidentified family advertised their call for the £180k-a-year tutor, who needs to be "someone very special".
In recent few weeks, the post has gained notice across the press, with several questioning why?
Progressive Approach
A tutoring expert, chief executive of Tutors International, which is helping the family in their quest, explained that in spite of early scepticism, he considered the idea "far sighted", and "progressive".
When he consulted the family, he mentioned they understood the unconventional aspect of their request, and how early in age their son is.
However, they clarified that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had waited until their elder sibling was five, and by that point "cultural conditioning had by then taken hold".
What exactly does the family indicate by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "comprehensive", he replied. "How you eat, the manner you speak".
He said the older sibling had picked up "really subtle, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had adopted their cultural norms. The family informed Adam they did not want the same situation to recur with their younger child.
The intention: To engage a UK tutor, who must speak with RP, to shape the baby right from the beginning.
Subtle Influence
"A lot of the development at the outset here is kind of acquired indirectly," said the CEO.
It's via this osmosis that the family are expecting the child will acquire the English characteristics they wish to impart.
He noted the tutor had to be someone who went to "the right kinds of schools – comparable categories of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The tutor just has to be the suitable individual, they'll be carrying out things they don't even know they're doing, simply by nature," he commented.
Cost Not Relevant
The family informed him the chosen tutor should ideally also have understanding of or interest in horse riding, skiing, creative fields and music so as to influence the child in a diverse set of passions.
More than that though, he explained the family hoped the tutor to register the child on a selection of lessons so the child would be "horseback riding and learning an musical instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's minds, helping their son develop into a "British gentleman" will lead to accomplishment and open doors.
"For all the pros and cons of that, because it's definitely a status symbol," he adds.
However, notwithstanding all this tutelage in "English culture", could the child adopt what is termed cultural influence from the international family he is raised by in any case?
"Certainly", answered Adam. "The parents realize this may not work, but they've just taken the perspective of, 'we should try and let's go as quickly as we can', because the expense of it is irrelevant," he explained.
Impractical
There are some in the education sector who have these reservations.
Another CEO, head and founder of a tutoring service, who supplies private tutors, stated that "the development of becoming bicultural, or indeed, discovering oneself, is something that must be lived into, not engineered."
He wrote that he had relocated from China to the Britain at the time of seven, and had been raised knowing and embodying dual heritages. He went on to be educated at Cambridge University.
"The concept that one individual can act as a embodiment of Britishness, someone who can possibly impart the characteristics of a English gentleman upon a one-year-old child, strikes me as optimistic and unrealistic," he commented.
"In my experience, engaging a typically English tutor from early childhood will does not instantly achieve the goal they hope for.
"I wasn't provided with that kind of mentor, and yet I have been privileged enough to enjoy several of the situations they aspire for their son."
He added: "The truth is, cultural identity should not be imposed from the external environment; it must be embraced, and it must originate internally."
Purchasing UK Culture
Naturally, UK identity is something Adam hopes can be educated – and sold.
"I believe the reality that the international society views us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
