"A household residing in the northern part of London wants to find an exceptional and skilled educator to guide their smallest child on his first steps to becoming an English gentleman."
Looking at this listing, you might naturally miss the phrase "first-steps" as simple figurative language.
But, it may be the crucial aspect of this unique job advert, as it aims to find a teacher for a 12-month-old.
Numerous of submissions have since been received since the anonymous family posted their request for the £180k-a-year tutor, who needs to be "someone very special".
During the past few weeks, the listing has attracted interest throughout the media, with many questioning why?
Innovative Idea
The CEO, CEO and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is assisting the family in their quest, said that in spite of initial scepticism, he considered the concept "forward-looking", and "innovative".
When he consulted the family, he mentioned they appreciated the atypical character of their requirement, and how young their son is.
Nevertheless, they explained that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had held off until their older child was five, and by that stage "cultural conditioning had already set in".
But what does the family refer to by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "all-encompassing", he replied. "How you eat, how you speak".
He stated the older sibling had adopted "really subtle, unspoken signals" from the family, and had adopted their cultural ways. The family informed the consultant they wished to avoid this pattern to repeat itself with their new baby.
The strategy: To engage a British tutor, who must speak with Received Pronunciation, to guide the baby from the very start.
Osmotic Learning
"Much of the education at the beginning here is somewhat osmotic," stated the CEO.
It's through this natural absorption that the family are hoping the child will acquire the British traits they want to impart.
He explained the tutor needed to be somebody who studied at "the right kinds of schools – similar types of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The instructor must be the suitable individual, they'll be doing things they aren't even aware they're doing, effortlessly," he commented.
Cost Not Relevant
The family informed him the successful candidate should preferably also have understanding of or passion in riding, winter sports, artistic pursuits and musical activities so as to shape the child in a diverse set of interests.
Additionally though, he stated the family wanted the tutor to enrol the child on a selection of courses so the child would be "equestrian training and picking up an musical instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's view, helping their son grow into a "British gentleman" will bring about accomplishment and create opportunities.
"Taking into account the rights and wrongs of that, because it's undoubtedly a status symbol," he comments.
But, despite all this instruction in "English culture", might the child pick up what is termed cultural bias from the international family he resides with in any case?
"Absolutely", answered Adam. "The parents understand this could fail, but they've just taken the perspective of, 'why not attempt it and let's go as early as we can', because the price of it is not relevant," he said.
Impractical
A number of in the education sector who share similar reservations.
Another CEO, chief executive of Blue Education, who supplies private tutors, wrote that "the development of embracing two identities, or in fact, forming one's identity, is something that must be experienced personally, not designed."
The expert explained that he had moved from China to the UK at the time of seven, and had been educated experiencing and practicing both cultures. He progressed to learn at Cambridge University.
"The concept that a single person can act as a embodiment of UK identity, someone who can possibly impart the characteristics of a British gentleman onto a 12-month-old child, seems to me optimistic and impractical," he commented.
"Based on my background, having a quintessentially UK tutor from early childhood will will not necessarily achieve the outcome they desire.
"I never had such a figure, and yet I have been fortunate enough to experience many of the experiences they hope for their son."
He added: "The fact is, personal identity should not be imposed from the outside influences; it must be embraced, and it must originate internally."
Acquiring Englishness
Certainly, Britishness is something Adam hopes can be educated – and commercialized.
"I think the reality that the global community regards us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
