"A family based in north London wants to find an extraordinary and qualified educator to guide their most junior child on his early path to growing into an English gentleman."
When reading this post, you might naturally miss the term "initial stages" as simple a turn of phrase.
However, it may be the most significant part of this distinctive job advert, as it attempts to recruit a teacher for a one-year-old.
Hundreds of applications have since been submitted since the unnamed family published their call for the highly paid tutor, who must be "a uniquely qualified person".
Over the last few weeks, the post has received notice across the media, with numerous questioning why?
Progressive Approach
A tutoring expert, CEO and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is assisting the family in their hunt, said that in spite of first skepticism, he found the idea "forward-looking", and "innovative".
When he met the family, he noted they recognized the unconventional nature of their requirement, and how early in age their son is.
However, they stated that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to get a tutor, as they had postponed until their firstborn was five, and by that age "cultural influence had already set in".
But what did the family refer to by "cultural leaning"?
It's "everything", the expert answered. "The manner you eat, how you speak".
He said the elder child had absorbed "very nuanced, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had assumed their cultural habits. The family told the consultant they hoped to prevent the same situation to recur with their new baby.
The plan: To bring in a English tutor, who should speak with Received Pronunciation, to influence the baby from day one.
Osmotic Learning
"Much of the learning at the beginning here is kind of absorbed naturally," stated the CEO.
It's via this natural absorption that the family are hoping the child will adopt the English characteristics they wish to impart.
Adam said the tutor must be someone who studied at "prestigious academies – similar types of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The tutor must be the right kind of person, they'll be performing things they aren't even aware they're doing, just naturally," he added.
Cost Not Relevant
The family told the expert the selected educator should ideally also have familiarity of or passion in horse riding, winter sports, the arts and music so as to inspire the child in a broad spectrum of interests.
Furthermore though, he stated the family hoped the tutor to sign up the child on a range of lessons so the child would be "horseback riding and picking up an instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's view, helping their son become a "UK sophisticate" will lead to success and create opportunities.
"For all the rights and wrongs of that, because it's certainly a class statement," he notes.
However, despite all this instruction in "English culture", would the child adopt what is termed cultural influence from the multicultural family he resides with anyway?
"Absolutely", said he. "They realize this may not work, but they've just taken the perspective of, 'we should try and let's go as quickly as we can', because the price of it is not relevant," he explained.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
There are some in the education sector who share those doubts.
An education leader, chief executive of a tutoring service, who also offer individual instructors, commented that "the process of becoming bicultural, or actually, forming one's identity, is something that must be grown into, not engineered."
Peter explained that he had relocated from Asia to the United Kingdom at the time of childhood, and had been educated understanding and practicing dual heritages. He continued to be educated at Cambridge University.
"The notion that an individual can function as a representation of UK identity, an individual who can in some way transfer the attributes of a English gentleman onto a infant child, seems to me naive and unrealistic," he stated.
"From my perspective, employing a quintessentially UK tutor from babyhood will not instantly achieve the outcome they desire.
"I wasn't provided with such a figure, and however I have been fortunate enough to enjoy many of the experiences they desire for their son."
He stated: "The truth is, cultural identity can not be imposed from the external environment; it must be selected, and it must be internally driven."
Buying Britishness
Naturally, Britishness is something the CEO believes can be taught – and marketed.
"In my view the fact that the world regards us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
