"A household residing in North London seeks an extraordinary and qualified educator to guide their youngest child on his first steps to growing into an English gentleman."
Upon seeing this post, you might easily skip the wording "beginning" as simple a turn of phrase.
Yet, it may be the most important element of this distinctive job advert, as it seeks to hire a tutor for a one-year-old.
Hundreds of applications have since been submitted since the unnamed family published their call for the £180k-a-year tutor, who has to be "an exceptional individual".
In recent few weeks, the post has gained notice throughout the media, with many asking why?
Forward-Thinking Method
A tutoring expert, CEO and founder of Tutors International, which is assisting the family in their search, said that in spite of first scepticism, he considered the plan "forward-looking", and "innovative".
When he met the family, he said they appreciated the unconventional character of their request, and how immature their son is.
However, they stated 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 point "cultural conditioning had already become established".
But what did the family refer to by "cultural bias"?
It's "everything", he responded. "The manner you eat, the way you speak".
He said the older sibling had absorbed "very nuanced, unspoken signals" from the family, and had taken on their cultural ways. The family explained to Adam they wished to avoid this pattern to repeat itself with their younger child.
The strategy: To engage a UK tutor, who needs to speak with Received Pronunciation, to guide the baby right from the beginning.
Natural Absorption
"A lot of the education at the start here is somewhat acquired indirectly," said Adam.
It's via this subtle influence that the family are aiming the child will pick up the UK customs they want to impart.
Adam said the tutor had to be an individual who attended "prestigious academies – the same kinds of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The educator simply needs to be the suitable individual, they'll be performing things they aren't even aware they're doing, simply by nature," he commented.
Cost Not Relevant
The family explained to Adam the selected educator should ideally also have knowledge of or interest in equestrian activities, skiing, the arts and music so as to influence the child in a diverse set of interests.
More than that though, he stated the family hoped the tutor to enrol the child on a variety of lessons so the child would be "pony-riding and picking up an tool by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's view, assisting their son become a "British gentleman" will lead to achievement and open doors.
"For all the rights and wrongs of that, because it's undoubtedly a class statement," he adds.
However, in spite of all this instruction in "English culture", would the child absorb so-called cultural leaning from the international family he resides with regardless?
"Absolutely", replied the CEO. "The family understand this could fail, but they've merely embraced the view of, 'we should try and we'll proceed as quickly as we can', because the expense of it is not relevant," he explained.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
There are some in the tutoring industry who express those doubts.
An education leader, head and founder of Blue Education, who supplies personal educators, stated that "the journey of becoming bicultural, or indeed, discovering oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not manufactured."
The expert wrote that he had moved from the Far East to the UK at the time of childhood, and had been raised experiencing and living both cultures. He progressed to learn at Cambridge University.
"The concept that a single person can function as a embodiment of UK identity, an individual who can somehow transfer the characteristics of a English gentleman to a 12-month-old child, strikes me as naive and unrealistic," he commented.
"In my experience, employing a quintessentially English tutor from early childhood will will not automatically produce the result they want.
"I never had such a tutor, and yet I have been lucky enough to enjoy several of the opportunities they aspire for their son."
He continued: "The reality is, personal identity cannot be dictated from the outside; it must be selected, and it must come from within."
Buying Britishness
Of course, UK identity is something Adam hopes can be taught – and marketed.
"I believe the reality that the global community regards us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
