"A family based in north London is looking for an extraordinary and skilled educator to support their youngest child on his first steps to turning into an English gentleman."
Upon seeing this post, you might readily skip the term "initial stages" as just an expression.
But, it could be the most significant element of this unique job advert, as it aims to recruit a tutor for a 12-month-old.
Many of applications have now been received since the anonymous family published their call for the highly paid tutor, who must be "a uniquely qualified person".
In recent few weeks, the post has received notice in the media, with several asking why?
Forward-Thinking Method
Adam Caller, CEO and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is assisting the family in their hunt, said that notwithstanding first scepticism, he considered the idea "far sighted", and "advanced".
When he met the family, he said they recognized the unusual nature of their requirement, and how immature their son is.
But, they clarified that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had postponed until their firstborn was five, and by that point "cultural bias had by then set in".
What exactly does the family refer to by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "comprehensive", he answered. "How you eat, the manner you speak".
He explained the elder child had adopted "very nuanced, unspoken signals" from the family, and had taken on their cultural norms. The family explained to the consultant they hoped to prevent this pattern to recur with their younger child.
The plan: To bring in a English tutor, who needs to speak with Received Pronunciation, to shape the baby from the very start.
Osmotic Learning
"Much of the development at the start here is somewhat acquired indirectly," explained the CEO.
It's by means of this subtle influence that the family are hoping the child will acquire the English characteristics they want to instil.
The consultant said the tutor needed to be somebody who attended "the right kinds of schools – comparable categories of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The instructor must be the suitable individual, they'll be performing things they don't even know they're doing, simply by nature," he commented.
Money No Object
The family informed him the successful candidate should ideally also have knowledge of or interest in horse riding, skiing, the arts and music so as to influence the child in a wide range of interests.
Furthermore though, he said the family wanted the tutor to sign up the child on a selection of classes so the child would be "equestrian training and learning an musical instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's view, assisting their son grow into a "British gentleman" will bring about achievement and create opportunities.
"For all the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's certainly a class statement," he notes.
Yet, in spite of all this guidance in "English culture", could the child absorb alleged cultural influence from the international family he lives with regardless?
"Yes", answered he. "The family understand this could fail, but they've merely embraced the perspective of, 'let's give it a go and we'll proceed as quickly as we can', because the expense of it is not relevant," he explained.
Overly Optimistic
Several in the education sector who have similar concerns.
Another CEO, chief executive of a tutoring service, who supplies personal educators, commented that "the development of becoming bicultural, or actually, discovering oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not designed."
The expert explained that he had relocated from the Far East to the United Kingdom at the time of childhood, and had been educated experiencing and living both cultures. He progressed to be educated at a prestigious UK institution.
"The idea that a single person can serve as a representation of Britishness, an individual who can somehow transplant the attributes of a British gentleman onto a infant child, seems to me naive and impractical," he stated.
"Based on my background, engaging a typically English tutor from early childhood will not automatically create the outcome they desire.
"I did not have that kind of mentor, and however I have been lucky enough to live many of the opportunities they aspire for their son."
He continued: "The fact is, self-identity can not be dictated from the outside; it must be selected, and it must be internally driven."
Purchasing UK Culture
Naturally, UK identity is something the expert believes can be taught – and commercialized.
"In my view the situation that the world views us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
