"Parents residing in North London is looking for an exceptional and experienced tutor to support their most junior child on his initial journey to turning into an English gentleman."
When reading this advertisement, you might easily overlook the wording "initial stages" as mere an expression.
However, it could be the most important aspect of this unique position posting, as it seeks to find a mentor for a 12-month-old.
Many of applications have already been sent in since the unidentified family advertised their request for the highly paid tutor, who has to be "someone very special".
In recent few weeks, the advert has gained notice throughout the media, with many asking why?
Innovative Idea
A tutoring expert, CEO and founder of Tutors International, which is assisting the family in their quest, stated that despite initial scepticism, he viewed the idea "far sighted", and "progressive".
When he met the family, he noted they appreciated the atypical nature of their demand, and how immature their son is.
Nevertheless, they clarified that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had held off until their elder sibling was five, and by that point "cultural conditioning had already set in".
But what does the family refer to by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "comprehensive", he replied. "The way you eat, how you speak".
He said the firstborn had absorbed "very nuanced, unspoken signals" from the family, and had adopted their cultural habits. The family told Adam they hoped to prevent this pattern to happen again with their younger child.
The plan: To engage a UK tutor, who needs to speak with standard English accent, to influence the baby from the very start.
Natural Absorption
"A great deal of the learning at the outset here is rather absorbed naturally," said the expert.
It's through this natural absorption that the family are aiming the child will acquire the English characteristics they wish to cultivate.
The consultant noted the tutor had to be somebody who studied at "the appropriate educational institutions – comparable categories of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The educator simply needs to be the right kind of person, they'll be carrying out things they aren't even aware they're doing, just naturally," he added.
Cost Not Relevant
The family explained to the expert the selected educator should ideally also have knowledge of or passion in equestrian activities, alpine skiing, artistic pursuits and music so as to inspire the child in a broad spectrum of interests.
Furthermore though, he stated the family hoped the tutor to enrol the child on a range 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 minds, helping their son become a "UK sophisticate" will bring about achievement and create opportunities.
"Taking into account the pros and cons of that, because it's definitely a class statement," he adds.
But, notwithstanding all this guidance in "Britishness", could the child adopt what is termed cultural leaning from the globally influenced family he is raised by in any case?
"Yes", replied Adam. "The family understand this may not work, but they've simply adopted the view of, 'why not attempt it and we'll proceed as early as we can', because the price of it is not a concern," he explained.
Impractical
Several in the tutoring industry who share those doubts.
Peter Cui, chief executive of Blue Education, who also offer private tutors, wrote that "the journey of adopting dual cultures, or actually, forming one's identity, is something that must be experienced personally, not designed."
He explained that he had moved from the Far East to the United Kingdom at the period of seven, and had been educated experiencing and embodying two backgrounds. He progressed to study at a prestigious UK institution.
"The concept that a single person can act as a embodiment of Britishness, someone who can somehow impart the qualities of a UK sophisticate to a infant child, strikes me as naive and unfeasible," he commented.
"Based on my background, engaging a quintessentially British tutor from early childhood will not automatically create the goal they desire.
"I never had such a tutor, and yet I have been privileged enough to live many of the experiences they hope for their son."
He continued: "The fact is, personal identity cannot be forced from the outside; it must be embraced, and it must originate internally."
Buying Britishness
Certainly, English culture is something the expert hopes can be instructed – and sold.
"In my view the fact that the global community views us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
