"A family residing in the northern part of London wants to find an extraordinary and experienced educator to assist their smallest child on his early path to turning into an English gentleman."
When reading this listing, you might naturally overlook the wording "first-steps" as simple a turn of phrase.
However, it may be the crucial aspect of this unique position posting, as it aims to hire a teacher for a infant.
Hundreds of submissions have since been received since the unidentified family advertised their call for the highly paid tutor, who needs to be "an exceptional individual".
Over the last few weeks, the post has attracted interest in the news, with many asking why?
Forward-Thinking Method
The CEO, chief executive of a global tutoring firm, which is supporting the family in their search, explained that in spite of first skepticism, he considered the idea "visionary", and "advanced".
When he consulted the family, he mentioned they recognized the atypical character of their demand, and how immature their son is.
Nevertheless, they stated that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to get a tutor, as they had held off until their firstborn was five, and by that point "cultural conditioning had already set in".
What exactly did the family mean by "cultural bias"?
It's "everything", he responded. "How you eat, the manner you speak".
He stated the firstborn had adopted "extremely delicate, unspoken signals" from the family, and had taken on their cultural habits. The family told Adam they hoped to prevent this pattern to recur with their infant.
The plan: To bring in a UK tutor, who needs to speak with Received Pronunciation, to influence the baby right from the beginning.
Natural Absorption
"Much of the learning at the beginning here is somewhat osmotic," explained the expert.
It's through this osmosis that the family are hoping the child will adopt the English characteristics they want to impart.
Adam noted the tutor must be someone who studied at "prestigious academies – similar types of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The tutor simply needs to be the right kind of person, they'll be performing things they don't even know they're doing, just naturally," he said.
Expense Not a Factor
The family told him the selected educator should ideally also have knowledge of or passion in horse riding, winter sports, creative fields and instrumental training so as to inspire the child in a diverse set of passions.
Additionally though, he explained the family wanted the tutor to enrol the child on a variety of lessons so the child would be "equestrian training and picking up an instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's perspective, guiding their son develop into a "British gentleman" will result in achievement and open doors.
"Considering the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's definitely a social class indicator," he notes.
However, in spite of all this guidance in "UK identity", would the child pick up so-called cultural leaning from the globally influenced family he lives with regardless?
"Absolutely", said Adam. "They realize this may not work, but they've just taken the perspective of, 'let's give it a go and we should start as soon as we can', because the expense of it is not a concern," he explained.
Overly Optimistic
Several in the education sector who share similar reservations.
An education leader, chief executive of an educational organization, who supplies private tutors, commented that "the journey of becoming bicultural, or in fact, forming one's identity, is something that must be grown into, not designed."
He noted that he had emigrated from Asia to the UK at the age of seven, and had been brought up knowing and embodying dual heritages. He went on to learn at the University of Cambridge.
"The idea that one individual can function as a living vessel of UK identity, a person who can somehow transfer the attributes of a English gentleman to a one-year-old child, strikes me as idealistic and impractical," he stated.
"Based on my background, employing a typically UK tutor from infancy will does not necessarily achieve the result they desire.
"I wasn't provided with such a figure, and however I have been fortunate enough to live numerous of the experiences they hope for their son."
He continued: "The reality is, personal identity should not be imposed from the outside influences; it must be selected, and it must come from within."
Acquiring Englishness
Certainly, Britishness is something Adam thinks can be taught – and commercialized.
"I think the reality that the world regards us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
