"A family located in North London wants to find an remarkable and qualified instructor to assist their youngest child on his early path to becoming an English gentleman."
Looking at this advertisement, you might easily miss the term "initial stages" as mere a turn of phrase.
Yet, it may be the most significant element of this unique position posting, as it aims to find a teacher for a 12-month-old.
Many of applications have now been submitted since the unidentified family posted their request for the highly paid tutor, who needs to be "a uniquely qualified person".
In recent few weeks, the post has received interest throughout the news, with several asking why?
Progressive Approach
A tutoring expert, chief executive of Tutors International, which is assisting the family in their quest, explained that despite first scepticism, he found the plan "forward-looking", and "progressive".
When he spoke with the family, he mentioned they recognized the unconventional 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 held off until their elder sibling was five, and by that point "cultural bias had already become established".
What exactly does the family mean by "cultural bias"?
It's "everything", Adam replied. "The manner you eat, the way you speak".
He stated the firstborn had picked up "really subtle, body language" from the family, and had taken on their cultural habits. The family told Adam they hoped to prevent history to happen again with their new baby.
The strategy: To hire a UK tutor, who needs to speak with standard English accent, to shape the baby from the very start.
Natural Absorption
"A lot of the learning at the outset here is kind of acquired indirectly," stated the expert.
It's by means of this natural absorption that the family are hoping the child will acquire the English characteristics they aim to cultivate.
The consultant explained the tutor needed to be someone who went to "the right kinds of schools – comparable categories of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The tutor just has to be the right kind of person, they'll be carrying out things they aren't even aware they're doing, effortlessly," he added.
Cost Not Relevant
The family informed him the successful candidate should preferably also have familiarity of or enthusiasm in equestrian activities, alpine skiing, creative fields and music 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 variety of lessons so the child would be "pony-riding and learning an musical instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's perspective, guiding their son become a "British gentleman" will lead to accomplishment and open doors.
"For all the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's definitely a status symbol," he notes.
But, in spite of all this tutelage in "English culture", might the child adopt so-called cultural bias from the international family he lives with regardless?
"Certainly", said he. "The family understand this could fail, but they've just taken the attitude of, 'let's give it a go and let's go as quickly as we can', because the expense of it is not relevant," he stated.
Impractical
There are some in the education sector who have those reservations.
Another CEO, chief executive of a tutoring service, who supplies personal educators, stated that "the journey of becoming bicultural, or actually, forming one's identity, is something that must be grown into, not manufactured."
He explained that he had moved from China to the UK at the period of 7 years old, and had been brought up experiencing and practicing both cultures. He progressed to learn at a prestigious UK institution.
"The concept that an individual can act as a embodiment of English culture, a person who can somehow transplant the characteristics of a UK sophisticate onto a 12-month-old child, strikes me as idealistic and unfeasible," he wrote.
"Based on my background, engaging a quintessentially British tutor from infancy will will not necessarily achieve the goal they desire.
"I did not have such a tutor, and yet I have been privileged enough to experience several of the situations they aspire for their son."
He added: "The fact is, cultural identity can not be imposed from the outside; it must be chosen, and it must be internally driven."
Buying Britishness
Naturally, Britishness is something the CEO believes can be instructed – and commercialized.
"I believe the reality that the international society views us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
