"Parents based in North London is looking for an exceptional and skilled instructor to assist their youngest child on his early path to growing into an British gentleman."
Looking at this listing, you might readily miss the term "initial stages" as mere figurative language.
However, it could be the crucial aspect of this unusual employment listing, as it seeks to find a teacher for a 12-month-old.
Many of applications have now been received since the anonymous family advertised their call for the £180,000 per year tutor, who has to be "an exceptional individual".
During the past few weeks, the post has gained interest across the news, with numerous questioning why?
Forward-Thinking Method
Adam Caller, head and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is supporting the family in their quest, said that notwithstanding initial doubt, he considered the idea "visionary", and "progressive".
When he spoke with the family, he said they recognized the unusual aspect of their request, and how early in age their son is.
But, they stated that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to get a tutor, as they had waited until their firstborn was five, and by that stage "cultural bias had by then taken hold".
What precisely does the family mean by "cultural leaning"?
It's "all-encompassing", he answered. "The way you eat, the manner you speak".
He stated the elder child had absorbed "extremely delicate, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had taken on their cultural norms. The family told the consultant they hoped to prevent history to recur with their new baby.
The strategy: To hire a English tutor, who must speak with RP, to shape the baby from day one.
Subtle Influence
"A lot of the learning at the outset here is somewhat absorbed naturally," stated the CEO.
It's via this osmosis that the family are hoping the child will adopt the UK customs they want to cultivate.
Adam said the tutor needed to be somebody who went to "the appropriate educational institutions – comparable categories of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The tutor just has to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be carrying out things they aren't even aware they're doing, just naturally," he added.
Cost Not Relevant
The family told him the selected educator should ideally also have knowledge of or enthusiasm in horse riding, winter sports, creative fields and musical activities so as to influence the child in a wide range of passions.
Additionally though, he said the family desired the tutor to enrol the child on a selection of classes so the child would be "horseback riding and starting an instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's perspective, assisting their son become a "UK sophisticate" will result in achievement and provide access.
"Taking into account the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's undoubtedly a class statement," he adds.
However, in spite of all this tutelage in "UK identity", might the child pick up what is termed cultural bias from the international family he lives with regardless?
"Absolutely", replied the CEO. "They know this might not succeed, but they've just taken the view of, 'we should try and we should start as quickly as we can', because the expense of it is not a concern," he said.
Impractical
Several in the tutoring industry who express those reservations.
An education leader, head and founder of Blue Education, who also offer personal educators, stated that "the journey of adopting dual cultures, or indeed, discovering oneself, is something that must be lived into, not engineered."
He wrote that he had relocated from Asia to the UK at the time of 7 years old, and had been educated understanding and embodying both cultures. He went on to learn at Cambridge University.
"The concept that one individual can function as a representation of English culture, someone who can somehow impart the characteristics of a UK sophisticate to a infant child, appears naive and unfeasible," he wrote.
"In my experience, employing a typically British tutor from early childhood will will not automatically create the result they want.
"I did not have such a tutor, and yet I have been fortunate enough to live several of the experiences they desire for their son."
He continued: "The reality is, cultural identity should not be imposed from the external environment; it must be selected, and it must be internally driven."
Buying Britishness
Of course, English culture is something Adam believes can be educated – and sold.
"In my view the reality that the international society regards us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
