"Parents based in north London wants to find an remarkable and experienced educator to assist their smallest child on his initial journey to becoming an British gentleman."
Upon seeing this advertisement, you might readily miss the wording "first-steps" as simple a turn of phrase.
But, it might be the most significant element of this unusual employment listing, as it seeks to find a tutor for a 12-month-old.
Hundreds of applications have since been sent in since the unidentified family advertised their call for the £180k-a-year tutor, who must be "someone very special".
Over the last few weeks, the post has attracted notice in the news, with numerous wondering why?
Progressive Approach
The CEO, head and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is supporting the family in their hunt, said that in spite of early doubt, he found the idea "visionary", and "innovative".
When he spoke with the family, he mentioned they recognized the atypical nature of their requirement, and how young their son is.
Nevertheless, they explained that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had postponed until their firstborn was five, and by that stage "cultural influence had already become established".
But what did the family refer to by "cultural leaning"?
It's "everything", he replied. "How you eat, the manner you speak".
He stated the elder child had adopted "really subtle, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had taken on their cultural habits. The family informed him they did not want the same situation to happen again with their infant.
The intention: To bring in a British tutor, who needs to speak with Received Pronunciation, to shape the baby from the very start.
Osmotic Learning
"A lot of the learning at the outset here is somewhat absorbed naturally," stated the expert.
It's through this subtle influence that the family are hoping the child will acquire the British traits they aim to cultivate.
The consultant said the tutor needed to be somebody who attended "the appropriate educational institutions – comparable categories of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The tutor must be the suitable individual, they'll be performing things they don't even know they're doing, simply by nature," he added.
Cost Not Relevant
The family told Adam the chosen tutor should ideally also have knowledge of or interest in riding, winter sports, the arts and instrumental training so as to inspire the child in a broad spectrum of hobbies.
More than that though, he stated the family desired the tutor to register the child on a range of classes so the child would be "equestrian training and starting an tool by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's view, guiding their son become a "UK sophisticate" will bring about accomplishment and open doors.
"Considering the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's undoubtedly a status symbol," he comments.
Yet, in spite of all this guidance in "Britishness", would the child adopt so-called cultural bias from the international family he resides with regardless?
"Yes", said Adam. "The parents know this could fail, but they've simply adopted the attitude of, 'we should try and let's go as soon as we can', because the expense of it is not a concern," he stated.
Impractical
There are some in the private teaching field who have these doubts.
Peter Cui, CEO and founder of an educational organization, who provides individual instructors, wrote that "the process of becoming bicultural, or indeed, becoming oneself, is something that must be grown into, not manufactured."
He noted that he had moved from China to the UK at the period of 7 years old, and had been raised experiencing and embodying two backgrounds. He went on to study at a prestigious UK institution.
"The idea that a single person can function as a representation of UK identity, a person who can possibly transplant the attributes of a UK sophisticate upon a infant child, seems to me naive and impractical," he wrote.
"Based on my background, engaging a distinctly UK tutor from babyhood will does not instantly create the result they hope for.
"I wasn't provided with such a tutor, and yet I have been privileged enough to live several of the situations they hope for their son."
He stated: "The reality is, self-identity cannot be dictated from the outside; it must be selected, and it must come from within."
Buying Britishness
Certainly, Britishness is something the CEO hopes can be instructed – and sold.
"In my view the situation that the global community holds us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
