"A household located in the northern part of London is looking for an exceptional and experienced tutor to assist their most junior child on his early path to becoming an English gentleman."
Looking at this listing, you might easily overlook the wording "initial stages" as simple figurative language.
Yet, it might be the most important element of this distinctive employment listing, as it aims to find a teacher for a 12-month-old.
Many of responses have now been received since the unidentified family advertised their call for the £180k-a-year tutor, who must be "a uniquely qualified person".
Over the last few weeks, the advert has received attention throughout the news, with numerous wondering why?
Progressive Approach
Adam Caller, head and founder of Tutors International, which is helping the family in their quest, said that notwithstanding first scepticism, he viewed the idea "far sighted", and "innovative".
When he consulted the family, he mentioned they recognized the unusual nature of their demand, and how early in age their son is.
Nevertheless, they explained that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had waited until their firstborn was five, and by that age "cultural conditioning had already taken hold".
But what does the family refer to by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "everything", he replied. "The way you eat, the manner you speak".
He explained the elder child had absorbed "really subtle, unspoken signals" from the family, and had adopted their cultural habits. The family informed the consultant they did not want history to happen again with their infant.
The plan: To bring in a English tutor, who must speak with Received Pronunciation, to shape the baby from the very start.
Natural Absorption
"A lot of the development at the beginning here is kind of absorbed naturally," said the expert.
It's through this subtle influence that the family are hoping the child will pick up the UK customs they want to impart.
Adam said the tutor needed to be someone who attended "prestigious academies – similar types of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The tutor just has to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be doing things they don't even know they're doing, just naturally," he said.
Cost Not Relevant
The family explained to him the selected educator should ideally also have familiarity of or passion in horse riding, winter sports, creative fields and musical activities so as to inspire the child in a diverse set of passions.
More than that though, he explained the family desired the tutor to enrol the child on a range of courses so the child would be "pony-riding and learning an tool by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's perspective, helping their son grow into a "English gentleman" will bring about accomplishment and open doors.
"Considering the pros and cons of that, because it's certainly a status symbol," he comments.
But, notwithstanding all this tutelage in "English culture", would the child pick up what is termed cultural influence from the international family he lives with anyway?
"Absolutely", replied he. "The parents understand this might not succeed, but they've merely embraced the attitude of, 'why not attempt it and we should start as early as we can', because the price of it is irrelevant," he explained.
Impractical
A number of in the education sector who share those doubts.
An education leader, head and founder of a tutoring service, who supplies individual instructors, commented that "the journey of becoming bicultural, or indeed, discovering oneself, is something that must be lived into, not designed."
The expert wrote that he had relocated from China to the UK at the age of seven, and had been educated knowing and embodying dual heritages. He continued to be educated at a prestigious UK institution.
"The notion that a single person can serve as a representation of Britishness, an individual who can in some way impart the qualities of a UK sophisticate onto a infant child, strikes me as idealistic and impractical," he wrote.
"Based on my background, employing a typically British tutor from early childhood will not instantly produce the result they hope for.
"I did not have such a figure, and however I have been privileged enough to live numerous of the experiences they desire for their son."
He continued: "The fact is, self-identity cannot be dictated from the external environment; it must be selected, and it must come from within."
Purchasing UK Culture
Certainly, UK identity is something the CEO hopes can be taught – and marketed.
"In my view the fact that the global community holds us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
