"A family located in the northern part of London is looking for an extraordinary and qualified instructor to guide their youngest child on his initial journey to becoming an English gentleman."
When reading this advertisement, you might naturally miss the term "initial stages" as mere figurative language.
But, it may be the most significant element of this unique job advert, as it aims to hire a mentor for a 12-month-old.
Numerous of responses have now been received since the anonymous family posted their request for the £180k-a-year tutor, who must be "a uniquely qualified person".
During the past few weeks, the listing has attracted attention throughout the media, with several questioning why?
Forward-Thinking Method
The CEO, chief executive of Tutors International, which is assisting the family in their quest, stated that despite early scepticism, he found the concept "forward-looking", and "innovative".
When he spoke with the family, he noted they recognized the atypical character of their demand, and how early in age their son is.
However, they clarified that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to get a tutor, as they had waited until their firstborn was five, and by that stage "cultural conditioning had already become established".
What exactly does the family indicate by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "comprehensive", the expert responded. "The manner you eat, the way you speak".
He stated the elder child had absorbed "extremely delicate, unspoken signals" from the family, and had adopted their cultural ways. The family informed Adam they wished to avoid this pattern to happen again with their younger child.
The intention: To bring in a British tutor, who must speak with standard English accent, to guide the baby right from the beginning.
Natural Absorption
"A lot of the development at the outset here is somewhat osmotic," explained Adam.
It's by means of this osmosis that the family are aiming the child will acquire the English characteristics they aim to impart.
Adam said the tutor had to be somebody who studied at "prestigious academies – the same kinds of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The tutor just has to be the right kind of person, they'll be performing things they aren't even aware they're doing, effortlessly," he commented.
Money No Object
The family told the expert the successful candidate should ideally also have understanding of or passion in riding, winter sports, creative fields and musical activities so as to shape the child in a broad spectrum of interests.
More than that though, he said the family desired the tutor to enrol the child on a range of lessons so the child would be "equestrian training and learning an tool by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's view, assisting their son develop into a "UK sophisticate" will bring about success and open doors.
"Taking into account the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's definitely a status symbol," he notes.
But, despite all this guidance in "English culture", might the child pick up alleged cultural bias from the multicultural family he is raised by anyway?
"Certainly", replied Adam. "The family understand this may not work, but they've just taken the view of, 'why not attempt it and we'll proceed as quickly as we can', because the cost of it is irrelevant," he explained.
Impractical
A number of in the tutoring industry who have those doubts.
Peter Cui, chief executive of Blue Education, who provides individual instructors, commented that "the process of adopting dual cultures, or indeed, becoming oneself, is something that must be lived into, not engineered."
He explained that he had emigrated from Asia to the UK at the age of 7 years old, and had been raised understanding and living both cultures. He progressed to learn at a prestigious UK institution.
"The idea that one individual can serve as a embodiment of English culture, an individual who can possibly transfer the characteristics of a UK sophisticate to a infant child, seems to me optimistic and impractical," he wrote.
"Based on my background, having a typically English tutor from babyhood will does not necessarily achieve the result they want.
"I never had such a tutor, and however I have been privileged enough to live several of the experiences they desire for their son."
He stated: "The reality is, self-identity should not be forced from the outside influences; it must be selected, and it must be internally driven."
Acquiring Englishness
Certainly, Britishness is something Adam believes can be instructed – and sold.
"I think the fact that the world holds us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
