"Parents located in north London is looking for an exceptional and experienced educator to guide their most junior child on his first steps to turning into an British gentleman."
Upon seeing this advertisement, you might readily skip the term "initial stages" as mere a turn of phrase.
But, it might be the most important aspect of this unusual position posting, as it attempts to recruit a tutor for a one-year-old.
Hundreds of submissions have already been received since the unnamed family advertised their search for the £180,000 per year tutor, who has to be "someone very special".
In recent few weeks, the listing has received attention throughout the media, with numerous questioning why?
Forward-Thinking Method
Adam Caller, chief executive of an education consultancy, which is helping the family in their hunt, said that in spite of first skepticism, he viewed the plan "forward-looking", and "advanced".
When he met the family, he said they appreciated the unconventional aspect of their request, and how early in age their son is.
But, they stated that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had postponed until their older child was five, and by that age "cultural influence had by then become established".
What exactly did the family refer to by "cultural bias"?
It's "everything", he responded. "The way you eat, the way you speak".
He stated the elder child had picked up "very nuanced, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had taken on their cultural norms. The family explained to the consultant they hoped to prevent this pattern to happen again with their infant.
The intention: To engage a UK tutor, who must speak with Received Pronunciation, to shape the baby from day one.
Osmotic Learning
"A great deal of the education at the start here is somewhat absorbed naturally," stated Adam.
It's by means of this osmosis that the family are aiming the child will pick up the UK customs they wish to instil.
He said the tutor had to be an individual who studied at "the right kinds of schools – the same kinds of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The educator just has to be the right kind of person, they'll be performing things they may not realize they're doing, simply by nature," he commented.
Money No Object
The family told the expert the successful candidate should preferably also have knowledge of or interest in equestrian activities, winter sports, creative fields and instrumental training so as to influence the child in a broad spectrum of passions.
Furthermore though, he explained the family hoped the tutor to register the child on a range of lessons so the child would be "pony-riding and picking up an tool by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's perspective, guiding their son develop into a "British gentleman" will lead to success and create opportunities.
"Taking into account the rights and wrongs of that, because it's certainly a social class indicator," he comments.
But, notwithstanding all this instruction in "UK identity", might the child adopt what is termed cultural bias from the international family he resides with anyway?
"Certainly", answered Adam. "They know this might not succeed, but they've just taken the perspective of, 'we should try and we'll proceed as quickly as we can', because the expense of it is not a concern," he said.
Impractical
Several in the tutoring industry who have these concerns.
Peter Cui, CEO and founder of Blue Education, who provides individual instructors, commented that "the journey of embracing two identities, or in fact, forming one's identity, is something that must be experienced personally, not engineered."
Peter wrote that he had emigrated from China to the United Kingdom at the age of 7 years old, and had been educated experiencing and practicing two backgrounds. He went on to learn at the University of Cambridge.
"The idea that an individual can act as a embodiment of English culture, someone who can somehow impart the qualities of a English gentleman to a one-year-old child, seems to me idealistic and unfeasible," he wrote.
"In my experience, having a typically British tutor from early childhood will will not instantly achieve the result they want.
"I did not have such a tutor, and yet I have been fortunate enough to enjoy many of the situations they desire for their son."
He continued: "The fact is, self-identity can not be forced from the outside; it must be chosen, and it must come from within."
Purchasing UK Culture
Certainly, English culture is something Adam thinks can be taught – and commercialized.
"I think the reality that the world views us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
