"A household based in North London seeks an remarkable and qualified educator to support their smallest child on his first steps to becoming an British gentleman."
Upon seeing this advertisement, you might easily skip the wording "initial stages" as mere a turn of phrase.
But, it may be the most important part of this distinctive employment listing, as it aims to hire a tutor for a 12-month-old.
Hundreds of responses have now been sent in since the unidentified family posted their request for the highly paid tutor, who has to be "a uniquely qualified person".
In recent few weeks, the advert has attracted attention in the media, with several questioning why?
Forward-Thinking Method
The CEO, chief executive of a global tutoring firm, which is supporting the family in their search, said that despite first skepticism, he found the idea "forward-looking", and "progressive".
When he consulted the family, he noted they understood the unconventional character of their request, and how early in age their son is.
However, they explained that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had waited until their older child was five, and by that point "cultural bias had by then become established".
What precisely did the family mean by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "everything", he answered. "The manner you eat, the way you speak".
He stated the firstborn had picked up "extremely delicate, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had assumed their cultural norms. The family explained to the consultant they hoped to prevent this pattern to happen again with their infant.
The plan: To bring in a English tutor, who should speak with standard English accent, to influence the baby from the very start.
Osmotic Learning
"A great deal of the education at the outset here is kind of acquired indirectly," stated the CEO.
It's through this osmosis that the family are aiming the child will adopt the English characteristics they wish to cultivate.
He noted the tutor must be someone who studied at "the appropriate educational institutions – comparable categories of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The instructor just has to be the suitable individual, they'll be performing things they don't even know they're doing, simply by nature," he said.
Expense Not a Factor
The family informed Adam the selected educator should ideally also have understanding of or passion in horse riding, winter sports, the arts and music so as to influence the child in a wide range of passions.
More than that though, he said the family wanted the tutor to sign up the child on a variety of classes so the child would be "horseback riding and learning an musical instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's minds, helping their son develop into a "UK sophisticate" will lead to success and create opportunities.
"Taking into account the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's undoubtedly a status symbol," he notes.
Yet, despite all this tutelage in "UK identity", would the child absorb so-called cultural bias from the globally influenced family he lives with in any case?
"Certainly", replied Adam. "The family understand this may not work, but they've simply adopted the view of, 'let's give it a go and we should start as early as we can', because the cost of it is not relevant," he explained.
Impractical
A number of in the tutoring industry who share similar doubts.
An education leader, CEO and founder of Blue Education, who also offer personal educators, wrote that "the development of becoming bicultural, or actually, discovering oneself, is something that must be grown into, not engineered."
He noted that he had moved from the Far East to the Britain at the period of seven, and had been raised understanding and embodying two backgrounds. He progressed to study at Cambridge University.
"The concept that one individual can act as a living vessel of Britishness, an individual who can somehow impart the qualities of a UK sophisticate to a infant child, seems to me idealistic and unrealistic," he stated.
"From my perspective, having a distinctly UK tutor from babyhood will not necessarily produce the goal they hope for.
"I did not have that kind of mentor, and however I have been fortunate enough to experience several of the experiences they hope for their son."
He added: "The reality is, self-identity cannot be dictated from the outside influences; it must be chosen, and it must be internally driven."
Acquiring Englishness
Naturally, UK identity is something the expert thinks can be taught – and sold.
"I think the situation that the international society holds us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
