"A family located in North London seeks an extraordinary and skilled instructor to guide their most junior child on his first steps to becoming an British gentleman."
Upon seeing this listing, you might readily miss the term "first-steps" as mere an expression.
Yet, it may be the crucial element of this distinctive employment listing, as it seeks to hire a tutor for a one-year-old.
Many of applications have since been sent in since the unidentified family posted their request for the £180,000 per year tutor, who must be "an exceptional individual".
Over the last few weeks, the listing has received attention in the press, with numerous asking why?
Progressive Approach
The CEO, chief executive of a global tutoring firm, which is assisting the family in their search, stated that notwithstanding first skepticism, he viewed the idea "far sighted", and "progressive".
When he spoke with the family, he mentioned they understood the unusual aspect of their demand, and how young their son is.
But, they clarified that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had held off until their firstborn was five, and by that point "cultural bias had already taken hold".
But what did the family refer to by "cultural bias"?
It's "all-encompassing", the expert responded. "The way you eat, how you speak".
He said the older sibling had absorbed "really subtle, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had assumed their cultural norms. The family explained to Adam they wished to avoid the same situation to happen again with their infant.
The strategy: To engage a English tutor, who should speak with Received Pronunciation, to guide the baby from the very start.
Osmotic Learning
"A lot of the learning at the start here is somewhat osmotic," said Adam.
It's through this subtle influence that the family are aiming the child will adopt the British traits they aim to instil.
He said the tutor had to be somebody who attended "prestigious academies – similar types of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The instructor must be the suitable individual, they'll be performing things they aren't even aware they're doing, just naturally," he said.
Cost Not Relevant
The family told him the successful candidate should ideally also have knowledge of or interest in equestrian activities, skiing, creative fields and musical activities so as to inspire the child in a broad spectrum of hobbies.
Additionally though, he stated the family wanted the tutor to enrol the child on a variety of courses so the child would be "pony-riding and learning an tool by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's view, assisting their son grow into a "UK sophisticate" will bring about accomplishment and open doors.
"For all the pros and cons of that, because it's undoubtedly a status symbol," he notes.
Yet, in spite of all this tutelage in "UK identity", could the child absorb so-called cultural bias from the globally influenced family he resides with anyway?
"Absolutely", answered Adam. "The parents understand this could fail, but they've just taken the view of, 'let's give it a go and we'll proceed as early as we can', because the cost of it is irrelevant," he said.
Overly Optimistic
There are some in the tutoring industry who share those doubts.
Another CEO, CEO and founder of Blue Education, who supplies private tutors, commented that "the process of adopting dual cultures, or actually, becoming oneself, is something that must be lived into, not engineered."
He noted that he had emigrated from Asia to the Britain at the age of seven, and had been educated knowing and embodying dual heritages. He progressed to learn at Cambridge University.
"The concept that a single person can serve as a representation of Britishness, an individual who can in some way impart the characteristics of a English gentleman upon a infant child, appears naive and unrealistic," he stated.
"Based on my background, engaging a typically English tutor from babyhood will does not necessarily achieve the goal they hope for.
"I never had such a figure, and nevertheless I have been lucky enough to experience many of the opportunities they aspire for their son."
He added: "The fact is, self-identity should not be dictated from the outside; it must be embraced, and it must be internally driven."
Acquiring Englishness
Certainly, Britishness is something Adam believes can be educated – and sold.
"In my view the situation that the international society views us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
