"A family located in north London is looking for an exceptional and qualified tutor to assist their most junior child on his early path to becoming an English gentleman."
Upon seeing this advertisement, you might easily skip the phrase "initial stages" as mere figurative language.
However, it might be the most significant aspect of this distinctive employment listing, as it aims to find a teacher for a 12-month-old.
Many of applications have already been sent in since the unidentified family advertised their call for the £180k-a-year tutor, who has to be "someone very special".
Over the last few weeks, the advert has received interest in the press, with several wondering why?
Forward-Thinking Method
Adam Caller, head and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is assisting the family in their hunt, stated that despite first skepticism, he found the plan "far sighted", and "advanced".
When he met the family, he noted they understood the atypical character of their requirement, and how young their son is.
However, they stated that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had held off until their elder sibling was five, and by that point "cultural bias had already set in".
What precisely does the family mean by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "comprehensive", Adam replied. "The way you eat, the way you speak".
He stated the firstborn had picked up "very nuanced, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had taken on their cultural norms. The family explained to the consultant they wished to avoid history to repeat itself with their younger child.
The intention: To bring in a English tutor, who must speak with Received Pronunciation, to influence the baby right from the beginning.
Subtle Influence
"A great deal of the education at the outset here is somewhat acquired indirectly," said the expert.
It's via this natural absorption that the family are expecting the child will adopt the English characteristics they aim to impart.
He noted the tutor must be somebody who attended "prestigious academies – comparable categories of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The tutor must be the right kind of person, they'll be carrying out things they don't even know they're doing, just naturally," he added.
Cost Not Relevant
The family explained to the expert the selected educator should preferably also have knowledge of or interest in horse riding, winter sports, creative fields and instrumental training so as to shape the child in a diverse set of hobbies.
Furthermore though, he stated the family wanted the tutor to register the child on a variety of classes so the child would be "pony-riding and learning an instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's minds, helping their son become a "British gentleman" will bring about achievement and create opportunities.
"Taking into account the pros and cons of that, because it's certainly a status symbol," he comments.
However, in spite of all this instruction in "Britishness", might the child absorb what is termed cultural leaning from the globally influenced family he is raised by regardless?
"Yes", said the CEO. "The parents realize this might not succeed, but they've merely embraced the perspective of, 'let's give it a go and we should start as quickly as we can', because the price of it is not relevant," he said.
Overly Optimistic
Several in the education sector who have these concerns.
Peter Cui, CEO and founder of a tutoring service, who also offer private tutors, commented that "the journey of embracing two identities, or indeed, becoming oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not designed."
The expert wrote that he had relocated from the Far East to the UK at the age of 7 years old, and had been educated knowing and living two backgrounds. He continued to study at Cambridge University.
"The notion that one individual can act as a representation of UK identity, an individual who can somehow impart the attributes of a English gentleman onto a 12-month-old child, strikes me as naive and unfeasible," he wrote.
"From my perspective, employing a quintessentially UK tutor from babyhood will not necessarily create the goal they hope for.
"I did not have that kind of mentor, and nevertheless I have been lucky enough to enjoy numerous of the experiences they aspire for their son."
He added: "The fact is, self-identity cannot be forced from the outside; it must be selected, and it must originate internally."
Acquiring Englishness
Certainly, Britishness is something Adam hopes can be taught – and sold.
"In my view the situation that the world views us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
