"A household based in the northern part of London is looking for an remarkable and experienced tutor to guide their most junior child on his initial journey to turning into an British gentleman."
Looking at this listing, you might easily skip the wording "initial stages" as mere a turn of phrase.
Yet, it might be the crucial part of this unusual job advert, as it seeks to hire a mentor for a one-year-old.
Numerous of responses have now been submitted since the unidentified family posted their request for the £180,000 per year tutor, who has to be "an exceptional individual".
Over the last few weeks, the listing has gained notice in the media, with numerous asking why?
Progressive Approach
A tutoring expert, chief executive of an education consultancy, which is supporting the family in their quest, explained that despite initial scepticism, he viewed the idea "forward-looking", and "progressive".
When he met the family, he noted they recognized the unusual character of their request, and how young their son is.
But, they explained that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had waited until their older child was five, and by that age "cultural conditioning had by then taken hold".
What precisely does the family mean by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "comprehensive", he replied. "The way you eat, how you speak".
He said the elder child had adopted "very nuanced, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had taken on their cultural ways. The family told him they hoped to prevent the same situation to repeat itself with their new baby.
The strategy: To bring in a British tutor, who must speak with standard English accent, to shape the baby from the very start.
Osmotic Learning
"A great deal of the education at the start here is rather acquired indirectly," explained the expert.
It's through this subtle influence that the family are hoping the child will adopt the English characteristics they want to impart.
He said the tutor had to be an individual who went to "the appropriate educational institutions – comparable categories of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The instructor simply needs to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be doing things they aren't even aware they're doing, simply by nature," he said.
Cost Not Relevant
The family informed him the successful candidate should ideally also have knowledge of or enthusiasm in equestrian activities, skiing, artistic pursuits and musical activities so as to shape the child in a wide range of interests.
Additionally though, he explained 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 around three years old".
In the family's view, assisting their son develop into a "UK sophisticate" will result in accomplishment and provide access.
"Considering the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's undoubtedly a social class indicator," he adds.
However, in spite of all this guidance in "English culture", might the child adopt alleged cultural influence from the globally influenced family he is raised by anyway?
"Absolutely", replied Adam. "The family realize this may not work, but they've just taken the attitude of, 'why not attempt it and we should start as soon as we can', because the expense of it is irrelevant," he said.
Overly Optimistic
There are some in the tutoring industry who express those concerns.
Peter Cui, CEO and founder of an educational organization, who supplies individual instructors, wrote that "the journey of embracing two identities, or actually, becoming oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not designed."
The expert noted that he had relocated from China to the Britain at the period of childhood, and had been educated knowing and living dual heritages. He went on to be educated at Cambridge University.
"The idea that a single person can function as a representation of Britishness, someone who can somehow transfer the attributes of a English gentleman to a one-year-old child, appears naive and unrealistic," he stated.
"In my experience, employing a quintessentially UK tutor from infancy will will not automatically produce the result they want.
"I did not have that kind of mentor, and nevertheless I have been lucky enough to live several of the experiences they hope for their son."
He stated: "The truth is, self-identity should not be dictated from the external environment; it must be selected, and it must originate internally."
Buying Britishness
Certainly, English culture is something the CEO believes can be educated – and sold.
"I think the reality that the global community holds us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
