"Parents located in north London is looking for an extraordinary and qualified educator to assist their youngest child on his initial journey to growing into an English gentleman."
When reading this listing, you might naturally skip the phrase "initial stages" as simple a turn of phrase.
But, it might be the crucial element of this distinctive employment listing, as it aims to hire a tutor for a one-year-old.
Hundreds of submissions have since been received since the unnamed family posted their request for the highly paid tutor, who has to be "a uniquely qualified person".
During the past few weeks, the post has attracted notice throughout the press, with many asking why?
Progressive Approach
A tutoring expert, chief executive of a global tutoring firm, which is assisting the family in their hunt, explained that notwithstanding initial skepticism, he considered the plan "forward-looking", and "advanced".
When he spoke with the family, he said they understood the unconventional aspect of their request, and how young their son is.
However, they clarified that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to get a tutor, as they had held off until their elder sibling was five, and by that age "cultural conditioning had by then taken hold".
But what does the family refer to by "cultural bias"?
It's "all-encompassing", the expert replied. "How you eat, how you speak".
He said the firstborn had absorbed "extremely delicate, body language" from the family, and had taken on their cultural norms. The family informed Adam they hoped to prevent the same situation to repeat itself with their new baby.
The plan: To engage a British tutor, who should speak with Received Pronunciation, to guide the baby from the very start.
Subtle Influence
"Much of the learning at the outset here is rather osmotic," stated the CEO.
It's by means of this osmosis that the family are hoping the child will pick up the English characteristics they aim to impart.
The consultant explained the tutor must be somebody who went to "prestigious academies – similar types of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The educator simply needs to be the right kind of person, they'll be performing things they aren't even aware they're doing, effortlessly," he said.
Expense Not a Factor
The family told him the successful candidate should ideally also have understanding of or interest in equestrian activities, skiing, the arts and musical activities so as to influence the child in a diverse set of interests.
Furthermore though, he stated the family hoped the tutor to sign up 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, guiding their son develop into a "British gentleman" will lead to achievement and open doors.
"For all the pros and cons of that, because it's undoubtedly a status symbol," he notes.
Yet, despite all this instruction in "UK identity", would the child absorb so-called cultural leaning from the multicultural family he resides with in any case?
"Yes", said Adam. "The parents realize this might not succeed, but they've just taken the perspective of, 'let's give it a go and we'll proceed as early as we can', because the expense of it is not a concern," he explained.
Impractical
Several in the private teaching field who share those concerns.
An education leader, chief executive of an educational organization, who also offer individual instructors, wrote that "the process of embracing two identities, or actually, discovering oneself, is something that must be lived into, not engineered."
He noted that he had emigrated from the Far East to the Britain at the age of seven, and had been educated understanding and embodying dual heritages. He continued to learn at a prestigious UK institution.
"The idea that one individual can serve as a embodiment of English culture, a person who can somehow impart the attributes of a UK sophisticate to a one-year-old child, strikes me as idealistic and unfeasible," he wrote.
"In my experience, engaging a typically English tutor from infancy will not automatically achieve the result they hope for.
"I wasn't provided with that kind of mentor, and yet I have been privileged enough to live many of the experiences they aspire for their son."
He stated: "The reality is, personal identity cannot be dictated from the outside influences; it must be selected, and it must be internally driven."
Purchasing UK Culture
Certainly, UK identity is something the CEO hopes can be instructed – and sold.
"In my view the situation that the global community regards us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
