"A family located in North London is looking for an remarkable and skilled tutor to assist their most junior child on his first steps to becoming an English gentleman."
When reading this advertisement, you might naturally overlook the wording "first-steps" as simple figurative language.
Yet, it may be the most significant aspect of this unusual employment listing, as it aims to find a tutor for a one-year-old.
Hundreds of applications have since been received since the unidentified family advertised their request for the £180,000 per year tutor, who needs to be "a uniquely qualified person".
In recent few weeks, the advert has received attention in the press, with numerous wondering why?
Progressive Approach
The CEO, head and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is supporting the family in their search, explained that notwithstanding early scepticism, he found the idea "forward-looking", and "progressive".
When he met the family, he mentioned they appreciated the unusual nature of their demand, and how young their son is.
Nevertheless, they clarified that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to get a tutor, as they had held off until their firstborn was five, and by that stage "cultural influence had already set in".
But what did the family refer to by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "all-encompassing", Adam answered. "The way you eat, the way you speak".
He explained the firstborn had absorbed "very nuanced, unspoken signals" from the family, and had taken on their cultural ways. The family informed Adam they wished to avoid the same situation to recur with their infant.
The strategy: To hire a British tutor, who needs to speak with Received Pronunciation, to guide the baby from day one.
Subtle Influence
"Much of the development at the beginning here is rather acquired indirectly," stated Adam.
It's through this osmosis that the family are hoping the child will pick up the British traits they aim to instil.
Adam noted the tutor had to be an individual who studied at "prestigious academies – comparable categories of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The educator must be the right kind of person, they'll be doing things they aren't even aware they're doing, just naturally," he said.
Money No Object
The family told him the chosen tutor should ideally also have familiarity of or passion in horse riding, winter sports, artistic pursuits and instrumental training so as to shape the child in a broad spectrum of hobbies.
Additionally though, he explained the family wanted the tutor to register the child on a range of classes so the child would be "equestrian training and learning an tool by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's minds, assisting their son grow into a "English gentleman" will bring about success and create opportunities.
"For all the rights and wrongs of that, because it's definitely a social class indicator," he comments.
Yet, despite all this guidance in "Britishness", might the child pick up what is termed cultural leaning from the multicultural family he is raised by anyway?
"Absolutely", said Adam. "The family know this may not work, but they've simply adopted the perspective of, 'we should try and we'll proceed as early as we can', because the expense of it is not relevant," he stated.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
A number of in the tutoring industry who share those concerns.
Peter Cui, chief executive of an educational organization, who provides private tutors, stated that "the journey of adopting dual cultures, or in fact, forming one's identity, is something that must be experienced personally, not designed."
The expert explained that he had emigrated from Asia to the Britain at the time of seven, and had been brought up knowing and living both cultures. He progressed to study at the University of Cambridge.
"The notion that one individual can act as a embodiment of Britishness, a person who can somehow transplant the characteristics of a English gentleman upon a 12-month-old child, appears optimistic and unfeasible," he stated.
"From my perspective, employing a distinctly English tutor from early childhood will not necessarily create the outcome they want.
"I wasn't provided with that kind of mentor, and nevertheless I have been fortunate enough to experience many of the situations they aspire for their son."
He continued: "The truth is, cultural identity cannot be dictated from the external environment; it must be chosen, and it must originate internally."
Buying Britishness
Certainly, Britishness is something Adam thinks can be instructed – and marketed.
"I think the situation that the global community regards us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
