"A household located in the northern part of London wants to find an extraordinary and skilled educator to assist their smallest child on his initial journey to turning into an British gentleman."
When reading this advertisement, you might easily miss the term "beginning" as simple figurative language.
However, it may be the most important aspect of this distinctive employment listing, as it seeks to hire a tutor for a 12-month-old.
Hundreds of applications have already been sent in since the unidentified family published their request for the £180,000 per year tutor, who has to be "an exceptional individual".
Over the last few weeks, the advert has received notice throughout the media, with many wondering why?
Innovative Idea
The CEO, chief executive of a global tutoring firm, which is helping the family in their search, stated that in spite of early skepticism, he considered the concept "far sighted", and "progressive".
When he spoke with the family, he noted 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 get a tutor, as they had postponed until their firstborn was five, and by that stage "cultural bias had already become established".
What exactly did the family indicate by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "all-encompassing", Adam responded. "The manner you eat, the way you speak".
He said the older sibling had absorbed "extremely delicate, body language" from the family, and had assumed their cultural norms. The family informed him they did not want the same situation to repeat itself with their new baby.
The intention: To bring in a English tutor, who needs to speak with Received Pronunciation, to guide the baby right from the beginning.
Natural Absorption
"Much of the development at the start here is kind of osmotic," said Adam.
It's via this natural absorption that the family are hoping the child will pick up the British traits they want to instil.
Adam said the tutor must be an individual who went to "prestigious academies – similar types of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The instructor must be the suitable individual, they'll be carrying out things they may not realize they're doing, just naturally," he added.
Cost Not Relevant
The family told him the chosen tutor should preferably also have understanding of or passion in riding, winter sports, creative fields and music so as to influence the child in a broad spectrum of hobbies.
Furthermore though, he stated the family wanted the tutor to enrol the child on a range of lessons so the child would be "pony-riding and picking up an instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's view, guiding their son develop into a "English gentleman" will bring about accomplishment and create opportunities.
"For all the rights and wrongs of that, because it's undoubtedly a status symbol," he comments.
Yet, in spite of all this guidance in "English culture", could the child pick up what is termed cultural influence from the globally influenced family he lives with anyway?
"Certainly", said he. "The parents understand this could fail, but they've just taken the attitude of, 'we should try and let's go as quickly as we can', because the price of it is irrelevant," he stated.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
Several in the private teaching field who have those doubts.
An education leader, CEO and founder of Blue Education, who supplies private tutors, stated that "the process of adopting dual cultures, or actually, forming one's identity, is something that must be lived into, not manufactured."
The expert noted that he had emigrated from Asia to the Britain at the age of childhood, and had been brought up knowing and practicing two backgrounds. He progressed to study at the University of Cambridge.
"The concept that one individual can act as a representation of English culture, someone who can in some way transplant the attributes of a British gentleman upon a one-year-old child, strikes me as naive and unrealistic," he stated.
"In my experience, employing a typically UK tutor from early childhood will will not automatically produce the outcome they desire.
"I wasn't provided with such a figure, and yet I have been privileged enough to experience several of the situations they aspire for their son."
He added: "The fact is, personal identity can not be dictated from the external environment; it must be embraced, and it must originate internally."
Purchasing UK Culture
Certainly, UK identity is something Adam hopes can be instructed – and commercialized.
"In my view the situation that the world holds us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
