"Parents based in north London seeks an extraordinary and skilled educator to assist their most junior child on his early path to becoming an English gentleman."
When reading this advertisement, you might readily miss the wording "initial stages" as just an expression.
However, it may be the most important element of this unusual job advert, as it aims to hire a tutor for a infant.
Hundreds of applications have now been sent in since the anonymous family advertised their request for the £180,000 per year tutor, who has to be "an exceptional individual".
In recent few weeks, the advert has gained notice across the press, with several questioning why?
Forward-Thinking Method
The CEO, head and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is supporting the family in their quest, said that in spite of initial doubt, he found the concept "forward-looking", and "innovative".
When he met the family, he said they understood the unconventional aspect of their requirement, and how immature their son is.
Nevertheless, they clarified that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had waited until their elder sibling was five, and by that age "cultural influence had already set in".
But what does the family refer to by "cultural bias"?
It's "comprehensive", Adam answered. "How you eat, how you speak".
He said the elder child had absorbed "very nuanced, unspoken signals" from the family, and had taken on their cultural norms. The family explained to the consultant they wished to avoid this pattern to happen again with their new baby.
The strategy: To hire a British tutor, who needs to speak with Received Pronunciation, to guide the baby right from the beginning.
Osmotic Learning
"A lot of the education at the start here is rather acquired indirectly," explained Adam.
It's via this osmosis that the family are aiming the child will adopt the UK customs they want to cultivate.
Adam noted the tutor must be someone who attended "prestigious academies – similar types of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The tutor just has to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be doing things they may not realize they're doing, just naturally," he added.
Money No Object
The family told Adam the selected educator should preferably also have knowledge of or passion in horse riding, alpine skiing, creative fields and music so as to inspire the child in a broad spectrum of interests.
More than that though, he said the family wanted the tutor to register the child on a range of lessons so the child would be "horseback riding and starting an instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's perspective, guiding their son become a "British gentleman" will result in success and open doors.
"For all the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's certainly a class statement," he adds.
Yet, despite all this instruction in "English culture", would the child absorb alleged cultural bias from the international family he resides with regardless?
"Absolutely", said Adam. "The family know this might not succeed, but they've merely embraced the attitude of, 'we should try and we should start as soon as we can', because the price of it is not a concern," he explained.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
A number of in the private teaching field who express these doubts.
An education leader, CEO and founder of an educational organization, who also offer personal educators, stated that "the journey of adopting dual cultures, or in fact, forming one's identity, is something that must be experienced personally, not designed."
The expert wrote that he had emigrated from Asia to the Britain at the age of 7 years old, and had been raised experiencing and living dual heritages. He continued to learn at the University of Cambridge.
"The notion that one individual can serve as a embodiment of English culture, an individual who can in some way impart the characteristics of a UK sophisticate onto a one-year-old child, appears naive and unfeasible," he wrote.
"In my experience, having a distinctly British tutor from infancy will will not automatically produce the result they hope for.
"I did not have that kind of mentor, and nevertheless I have been privileged enough to experience numerous of the opportunities they desire for their son."
He added: "The reality is, cultural identity can not be forced from the external environment; it must be selected, and it must originate internally."
Buying Britishness
Of course, English culture is something Adam hopes can be instructed – and sold.
"I believe the situation that the global community holds us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
