"Parents residing in north London seeks an extraordinary and experienced instructor to support their most junior child on his initial journey to becoming an British gentleman."
Upon seeing this listing, you might easily skip the term "initial stages" as just a turn of phrase.
However, it might be the crucial aspect of this unusual position posting, as it seeks to hire a tutor for a one-year-old.
Many of responses have already been received since the unnamed family advertised their call for the £180,000 per year tutor, who has to be "an exceptional individual".
In recent few weeks, the post has gained interest throughout the media, with several asking why?
Forward-Thinking Method
A tutoring expert, CEO and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is helping the family in their hunt, said that notwithstanding initial skepticism, he considered the plan "far sighted", and "advanced".
When he met the family, he mentioned they appreciated the unconventional character of their request, and how immature their son is.
Nevertheless, they clarified that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to get a tutor, as they had postponed until their firstborn was five, and by that age "cultural bias had already taken hold".
What precisely does the family mean by "cultural leaning"?
It's "everything", he replied. "How you eat, how you speak".
He stated the older sibling had absorbed "extremely delicate, body language" from the family, and had assumed their cultural ways. The family explained to the consultant they hoped to prevent the same situation to recur with their younger child.
The intention: To engage a English tutor, who must speak with Received Pronunciation, to shape the baby from the very start.
Natural Absorption
"A great deal of the education at the beginning here is somewhat absorbed naturally," said the CEO.
It's via this osmosis that the family are aiming the child will acquire the British traits they wish to impart.
The consultant said the tutor must be an individual who studied at "the appropriate educational institutions – comparable categories of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The educator just has to be the right kind of person, they'll be doing things they may not realize they're doing, simply by nature," he commented.
Money No Object
The family told Adam the selected educator should ideally also have knowledge of or passion in equestrian activities, winter sports, the arts and music so as to influence the child in a wide range of interests.
More than that though, he said the family desired the tutor to sign up the child on a variety of courses so the child would be "horseback riding and learning an instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's minds, assisting their son grow into a "English gentleman" will result in accomplishment and create opportunities.
"Taking into account the rights and wrongs of that, because it's certainly a status symbol," he notes.
But, in spite of all this guidance in "Britishness", could the child absorb so-called cultural influence from the multicultural family he resides with regardless?
"Yes", said Adam. "The parents know this may not work, but they've just taken the perspective of, 'we should try and we should start as soon as we can', because the expense of it is not relevant," he said.
Impractical
Several in the private teaching field who share similar concerns.
An education leader, head and founder of Blue Education, who also offer private tutors, commented that "the process of embracing two identities, or actually, discovering oneself, is something that must be lived into, not manufactured."
Peter wrote that he had emigrated from the Far East to the United Kingdom at the period of seven, and had been educated understanding and practicing two backgrounds. He went on to learn at a prestigious UK institution.
"The concept that one individual can serve as a representation of Britishness, an individual who can possibly transplant the attributes of a UK sophisticate onto a infant child, appears idealistic and unfeasible," he wrote.
"From my perspective, employing a quintessentially UK tutor from babyhood will will not instantly produce the result they desire.
"I wasn't provided with such a tutor, and however I have been privileged enough to experience numerous of the situations they desire for their son."
He stated: "The truth is, cultural identity should not be imposed from the external environment; it must be selected, and it must come from within."
Buying Britishness
Certainly, English culture is something Adam believes can be instructed – and marketed.
"I think the reality that the world views us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
