"A household based in north London wants to find an remarkable and qualified instructor to support their smallest child on his initial journey to growing into an English gentleman."
When reading this post, you might readily skip the wording "initial stages" as just figurative language.
However, it could be the most important element of this unique job advert, as it aims to find a tutor for a one-year-old.
Numerous of applications have since been submitted since the anonymous family published their call for the £180,000 per year tutor, who must be "a uniquely qualified person".
Over the last few weeks, the advert has gained attention throughout the press, with several asking why?
Progressive Approach
The CEO, head and founder of an education consultancy, which is supporting the family in their search, said that notwithstanding early scepticism, he found the plan "far sighted", and "innovative".
When he consulted the family, he said they recognized the unusual character of their requirement, and how young their son is.
But, they clarified that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had postponed until their firstborn was five, and by that point "cultural bias had by then taken hold".
But what did the family refer to by "cultural bias"?
It's "everything", the expert replied. "The way you eat, the manner you speak".
He explained the elder child had picked up "really subtle, body language" from the family, and had adopted their cultural ways. The family told him they wished to avoid history to recur with their younger child.
The plan: To bring in a British tutor, who should speak with Received Pronunciation, to guide the baby from the very start.
Subtle Influence
"A lot of the development at the outset here is kind of acquired indirectly," explained Adam.
It's through this natural absorption that the family are expecting the child will acquire the UK customs they wish to instil.
He explained the tutor must be an individual who attended "the right kinds of schools – comparable categories of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The instructor just has to be the right kind of person, they'll be carrying out things they may not realize they're doing, effortlessly," he added.
Cost Not Relevant
The family told Adam the chosen tutor should preferably also have understanding of or enthusiasm in riding, skiing, artistic pursuits and music so as to shape the child in a wide range of interests.
Additionally though, he said the family desired the tutor to register the child on a range of classes so the child would be "pony-riding and picking up an instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's minds, guiding their son become a "English gentleman" will result in success and open doors.
"Considering the pros and cons of that, because it's definitely a social class indicator," he comments.
However, in spite of all this tutelage in "UK identity", would the child pick up alleged cultural leaning from the multicultural family he resides with regardless?
"Yes", answered the CEO. "They understand this may not work, but they've merely embraced the attitude of, 'why not attempt it and let's go as quickly as we can', because the expense of it is not relevant," he stated.
Impractical
Several in the private teaching field who share similar reservations.
Peter Cui, chief executive of Blue Education, who also offer private tutors, wrote that "the process of embracing two identities, or actually, becoming oneself, is something that must be lived into, not designed."
The expert noted that he had relocated from the Far East to the Britain at the period of seven, and had been raised experiencing and living both cultures. He continued to be educated at Cambridge University.
"The concept that a single person can act as a representation of UK identity, a person who can somehow transfer the qualities of a UK sophisticate upon a infant child, seems to me optimistic and unrealistic," he stated.
"From my perspective, engaging a quintessentially British tutor from babyhood will not instantly create the result they want.
"I did not have that kind of mentor, and nevertheless I have been fortunate enough to live many of the situations they desire for their son."
He continued: "The fact is, self-identity cannot be forced from the outside; it must be selected, and it must be internally driven."
Buying Britishness
Certainly, UK identity is something Adam thinks can be taught – and commercialized.
"I believe the reality that the world holds us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
