"A family located in the northern part of London seeks an remarkable and qualified educator to assist their smallest child on his first steps to growing into an English gentleman."
Looking at this listing, you might easily skip the term "beginning" as just a turn of phrase.
Yet, it could be the most significant element of this distinctive position posting, as it attempts to hire a tutor for a 12-month-old.
Many of responses have since been sent in since the anonymous family advertised their request for the £180k-a-year tutor, who must be "a uniquely qualified person".
In recent few weeks, the post has received notice throughout the media, with several asking why?
Forward-Thinking Method
The CEO, CEO and founder of Tutors International, which is helping the family in their quest, said that notwithstanding initial doubt, he considered the idea "visionary", and "innovative".
When he spoke with the family, he noted they appreciated the atypical nature of their requirement, and how immature their son is.
Nevertheless, they clarified that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to get a tutor, as they had waited until their older child was five, and by that stage "cultural conditioning had already taken hold".
What exactly did the family indicate by "cultural bias"?
It's "all-encompassing", he answered. "The way you eat, the manner you speak".
He stated the firstborn had absorbed "really subtle, body language" from the family, and had taken on their cultural norms. The family told Adam they wished to avoid history to happen again with their new baby.
The plan: To bring in a British tutor, who should speak with RP, to guide the baby from day one.
Osmotic Learning
"Much of the education at the start here is rather acquired indirectly," explained the CEO.
It's via this osmosis that the family are hoping the child will adopt the UK customs they aim to instil.
Adam said the tutor had to be somebody who studied at "prestigious academies – the same kinds of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The tutor must be the right kind of person, they'll be carrying out things they may not realize they're doing, just naturally," he commented.
Money No Object
The family told him the successful candidate should preferably also have understanding of or enthusiasm in equestrian activities, winter sports, the arts and music so as to inspire the child in a broad spectrum of interests.
More than that though, he explained the family wanted the tutor to sign up the child on a selection of courses so the child would be "horseback riding and learning an tool by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's view, assisting their son grow into a "UK sophisticate" will lead to achievement and create opportunities.
"Taking into account the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's undoubtedly a social class indicator," he comments.
Yet, in spite of all this instruction in "Britishness", might the child adopt what is termed cultural influence from the international family he resides with in any case?
"Yes", said Adam. "The family understand this may not work, but they've simply adopted the view of, 'let's give it a go and we should start as early as we can', because the expense of it is not relevant," he stated.
Impractical
Several in the education sector who share similar doubts.
Another CEO, chief executive of Blue Education, who provides private tutors, stated that "the journey of embracing two identities, or in fact, becoming oneself, is something that must be lived into, not manufactured."
He noted that he had relocated from the Far East to the United Kingdom at the time of childhood, and had been brought up understanding and embodying dual heritages. He progressed to be educated at Cambridge University.
"The notion that one individual can serve as a embodiment of UK identity, a person who can in some way impart the characteristics of a UK sophisticate upon a 12-month-old child, appears naive and unfeasible," he commented.
"Based on my background, engaging a quintessentially UK tutor from early childhood will not automatically produce the outcome they want.
"I did not have such a figure, and yet I have been privileged enough to experience numerous of the situations they hope for their son."
He stated: "The fact is, self-identity can not be forced from the outside; it must be embraced, and it must come from within."
Buying Britishness
Certainly, UK identity is something Adam thinks can be educated – and commercialized.
"I think the situation that the international society holds us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
