"Parents residing in north London is looking for an extraordinary and skilled tutor to guide their youngest child on his early path to turning into an British gentleman."
Upon seeing this listing, you might easily overlook the phrase "initial stages" as simple an expression.
But, it might be the most significant element of this distinctive job advert, as it seeks to find a mentor for a infant.
Many of applications have already been sent in since the unidentified family advertised their call for the £180,000 per year tutor, who must be "a uniquely qualified person".
In recent few weeks, the post has attracted notice in the news, with many asking why?
Forward-Thinking Method
A tutoring expert, chief executive of a global tutoring firm, which is assisting the family in their quest, said that despite first doubt, he viewed the idea "forward-looking", and "advanced".
When he consulted the family, he noted they understood the unusual nature of their requirement, and how young their son is.
But, they clarified that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had held off until their firstborn was five, and by that age "cultural influence had already taken hold".
What exactly did the family indicate by "cultural bias"?
It's "all-encompassing", the expert responded. "How you eat, the manner you speak".
He explained the firstborn had picked up "very nuanced, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had assumed their cultural norms. The family explained to Adam they hoped to prevent this pattern to repeat itself with their infant.
The intention: To engage a British tutor, who needs to speak with standard English accent, to guide the baby right from the beginning.
Osmotic Learning
"A lot of the education at the start here is kind of osmotic," stated the CEO.
It's via this natural absorption that the family are hoping the child will pick up the UK customs they aim to impart.
He explained the tutor must be an individual who attended "the right kinds of schools – similar types of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The tutor just has to be the suitable individual, they'll be doing things they don't even know they're doing, effortlessly," he commented.
Money No Object
The family explained to the expert the successful candidate should preferably also have familiarity of or interest in riding, skiing, artistic pursuits and instrumental training so as to shape the child in a wide range of passions.
Additionally though, he said the family wanted the tutor to enrol the child on a selection of courses so the child would be "horseback riding and picking up an musical instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's minds, helping their son become a "British gentleman" will result in achievement and create opportunities.
"Taking into account the pros and cons of that, because it's undoubtedly a social class indicator," he comments.
However, notwithstanding all this guidance in "English culture", would the child absorb what is termed cultural influence from the multicultural family he lives with anyway?
"Yes", answered Adam. "The family know this might not succeed, but they've just taken the attitude of, 'why not attempt it and we should start as soon as we can', because the price of it is not a concern," he stated.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
Several in the private teaching field who express those concerns.
Peter Cui, CEO and founder of Blue Education, who supplies individual instructors, stated that "the development of becoming bicultural, or in fact, becoming oneself, is something that must be lived into, not manufactured."
The expert explained that he had emigrated from Asia to the United Kingdom at the age of childhood, and had been raised experiencing and living two backgrounds. He continued to learn at the University of Cambridge.
"The concept that a single person can act as a embodiment of UK identity, a person who can in some way transfer the qualities of a UK sophisticate upon a infant child, seems to me optimistic and impractical," he wrote.
"In my experience, engaging a quintessentially English tutor from infancy will not automatically produce the goal they desire.
"I did not have such a tutor, and nevertheless I have been fortunate enough to experience many of the opportunities they aspire for their son."
He added: "The reality is, self-identity cannot be dictated from the outside; it must be chosen, and it must originate internally."
Acquiring Englishness
Certainly, English culture is something Adam thinks can be educated – and sold.
"I believe the situation that the international society regards us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
