"A family based in north London is looking for an extraordinary and skilled educator to guide their smallest child on his first steps to turning into an British gentleman."
Looking at this post, you might naturally miss the phrase "initial stages" as just an expression.
Yet, it could be the most important aspect of this unusual position posting, as it aims to recruit a mentor for a infant.
Numerous of applications have already been received since the unidentified family posted their search for the £180,000 per year tutor, who needs to be "a uniquely qualified person".
Over the last few weeks, the post has received attention throughout the media, with many asking why?
Progressive Approach
The CEO, CEO and founder of an education consultancy, which is supporting the family in their search, explained that despite initial doubt, he viewed the plan "far sighted", and "progressive".
When he spoke with the family, he mentioned they appreciated the unconventional nature of their request, and how young their son is.
But, they explained that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had waited until their firstborn was five, and by that stage "cultural influence had already become established".
What exactly did the family refer to by "cultural leaning"?
It's "all-encompassing", Adam replied. "The way you eat, the way you speak".
He explained the firstborn had absorbed "really subtle, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had adopted their cultural ways. The family informed him they hoped to prevent this pattern to happen again with their younger child.
The plan: To hire a English tutor, who should speak with standard English accent, to guide the baby from day one.
Osmotic Learning
"A lot of the development at the start here is somewhat osmotic," stated Adam.
It's by means of this natural absorption that the family are expecting the child will pick up the UK customs they aim to impart.
Adam explained the tutor had to be somebody who went to "the appropriate educational institutions – similar types of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The tutor simply needs to be the right kind of person, they'll be doing things they don't even know they're doing, effortlessly," he added.
Expense Not a Factor
The family told Adam the selected educator should ideally also have knowledge of or interest in riding, skiing, creative fields and instrumental training so as to shape the child in a broad spectrum of hobbies.
More than that though, he stated the family hoped the tutor to register the child on a selection of courses so the child would be "horseback riding and learning an instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's minds, helping their son become a "UK sophisticate" will lead to accomplishment and open doors.
"Considering the pros and cons of that, because it's certainly a class statement," he adds.
However, despite all this instruction in "Britishness", could the child adopt alleged cultural influence from the globally influenced family he resides with in any case?
"Yes", answered Adam. "The family understand this could fail, but they've merely embraced the attitude of, 'why not attempt it and let's go as soon as we can', because the price of it is not relevant," he explained.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
Several in the private teaching field who express those reservations.
Another CEO, chief executive of a tutoring service, who provides personal educators, stated that "the process of adopting dual cultures, or in fact, becoming oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not designed."
He wrote that he had emigrated from Asia to the United Kingdom at the period of childhood, and had been brought up understanding and practicing two backgrounds. He progressed to study at a prestigious UK institution.
"The concept that an individual can function as a living vessel of Britishness, a person who can somehow impart the qualities of a English gentleman upon a infant child, seems to me naive and unrealistic," he wrote.
"Based on my background, engaging a typically UK tutor from babyhood will does not instantly create the result they hope for.
"I wasn't provided with such a tutor, and however I have been fortunate enough to enjoy many of the situations they hope for their son."
He added: "The reality is, self-identity should not be forced from the external environment; it must be embraced, and it must come from within."
Acquiring Englishness
Of course, UK identity is something the expert hopes can be educated – and commercialized.
"I think the fact that the international society regards us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
