"A family residing in North London is looking for an remarkable and skilled tutor to assist their smallest child on his early path to becoming an British gentleman."
When reading this post, you might easily miss the wording "beginning" as simple a turn of phrase.
However, it might be the most significant aspect of this distinctive employment listing, as it seeks to recruit a mentor for a 12-month-old.
Hundreds of responses have since been submitted since the unnamed family advertised their request for the £180k-a-year tutor, who has to be "someone very special".
During the past few weeks, the advert has attracted notice in the news, with several asking why?
Forward-Thinking Method
A tutoring expert, head and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is assisting the family in their hunt, stated that in spite of initial doubt, he viewed the idea "forward-looking", and "innovative".
When he met the family, he said they understood the unconventional aspect of their requirement, and how young their son is.
But, they explained that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had waited until their firstborn was five, and by that age "cultural conditioning had by then taken hold".
But what did the family mean by "cultural leaning"?
It's "everything", he responded. "The manner you eat, the way you speak".
He stated the firstborn had absorbed "extremely delicate, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had adopted their cultural ways. The family explained to Adam they did not want history to recur with their infant.
The plan: To hire a English tutor, who should speak with Received Pronunciation, to influence the baby from day one.
Natural Absorption
"A lot of the education at the beginning here is somewhat acquired indirectly," explained Adam.
It's by means of this natural absorption that the family are hoping the child will adopt the British traits they want to instil.
The consultant said the tutor must be an individual who attended "the appropriate educational institutions – comparable categories of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The instructor must be the suitable individual, they'll be performing things they may not realize they're doing, effortlessly," he said.
Expense Not a Factor
The family informed the expert the chosen tutor should ideally also have familiarity of or passion in riding, alpine skiing, creative fields and musical activities so as to shape the child in a diverse set of passions.
Furthermore though, he explained the family desired the tutor to register the child on a variety of lessons so the child would be "horseback riding and picking up an musical instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's perspective, assisting their son develop into a "British gentleman" will lead to achievement and create opportunities.
"Taking into account the pros and cons of that, because it's certainly a social class indicator," he comments.
Yet, notwithstanding all this tutelage in "UK identity", might the child adopt what is termed cultural influence from the multicultural family he is raised by in any case?
"Certainly", answered Adam. "The parents understand this may not work, but they've merely embraced the attitude of, 'we should try and we should start as soon as we can', because the cost of it is irrelevant," he said.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
There are some in the private teaching field who express those concerns.
An education leader, chief executive of Blue Education, who also offer private tutors, wrote that "the process of embracing two identities, or actually, forming one's identity, is something that must be grown into, not designed."
Peter noted that he had relocated from the Far East to the United Kingdom at the time of seven, and had been raised knowing and living dual heritages. He progressed to study at the University of Cambridge.
"The concept that one individual can act as a embodiment of Britishness, a person who can in some way transplant the characteristics of a UK sophisticate to a infant child, appears optimistic and unfeasible," he wrote.
"In my experience, engaging a typically 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 live many of the opportunities they desire for their son."
He continued: "The reality is, cultural identity should not be forced from the outside; it must be selected, and it must originate internally."
Purchasing UK Culture
Certainly, UK identity is something Adam hopes can be educated – and marketed.
"In my view the fact that the global community holds us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
