"A household based in North London wants to find an remarkable and qualified tutor to guide their smallest child on his first steps to becoming an British gentleman."
Upon seeing this post, you might readily overlook the wording "initial stages" as mere a turn of phrase.
Yet, it might be the most important element of this unusual job advert, as it attempts to find a teacher for a 12-month-old.
Hundreds of submissions have already been received since the anonymous family advertised their request for the highly paid tutor, who has to be "an exceptional individual".
Over the last few weeks, the post has received attention across the press, with several questioning why?
Forward-Thinking Method
A tutoring expert, head and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is helping the family in their quest, stated that despite first doubt, he found the plan "forward-looking", and "progressive".
When he consulted the family, he noted they understood the atypical aspect of their requirement, and how early in age their son is.
Nevertheless, they explained that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had postponed until their firstborn was five, and by that age "cultural conditioning had already taken hold".
What precisely does the family refer to by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "comprehensive", he responded. "The manner you eat, the manner you speak".
He explained the firstborn had absorbed "very nuanced, body language" from the family, and had assumed their cultural ways. The family explained to the consultant they wished to avoid the same situation to recur with their infant.
The intention: To hire a English tutor, who should speak with standard English accent, to guide the baby from day one.
Natural Absorption
"A great deal of the development at the start here is rather absorbed naturally," stated the CEO.
It's by means of this natural absorption that the family are hoping the child will adopt the British traits they want to impart.
He said the tutor must be somebody who attended "the appropriate educational institutions – similar types of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The instructor must be the right kind of person, they'll be doing things they aren't even aware they're doing, simply by nature," he said.
Expense Not a Factor
The family told the expert the successful candidate should preferably also have understanding of or enthusiasm in equestrian activities, alpine skiing, creative fields and musical activities so as to inspire the child in a diverse set of passions.
Furthermore though, he explained the family hoped the tutor to enrol the child on a variety of lessons so the child would be "horseback riding and learning an instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's minds, assisting their son develop into a "British gentleman" will bring about accomplishment and provide access.
"For all the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's undoubtedly a status symbol," he comments.
Yet, in spite of all this instruction in "English culture", might the child adopt what is termed cultural leaning from the multicultural family he lives with anyway?
"Yes", replied Adam. "The family understand this might not succeed, but they've simply adopted the attitude of, 'let's give it a go and we'll proceed as early as we can', because the expense of it is irrelevant," he explained.
Impractical
There are some in the tutoring industry who share similar concerns.
Another CEO, CEO and founder of Blue Education, who supplies individual instructors, commented that "the process of embracing two identities, or in fact, forming one's identity, is something that must be experienced personally, not engineered."
He noted that he had emigrated from the Far East to the United Kingdom at the period of 7 years old, and had been raised knowing and embodying both cultures. He went on to be educated at the University of Cambridge.
"The idea that one individual can act as a representation of English culture, someone who can somehow impart the characteristics of a British gentleman onto a 12-month-old child, appears naive and unrealistic," he wrote.
"Based on my background, having a distinctly British tutor from babyhood will will not automatically achieve the result they desire.
"I never had that kind of mentor, and however I have been fortunate enough to experience several of the situations they hope for their son."
He stated: "The reality is, self-identity should not be dictated from the outside; it must be chosen, and it must originate internally."
Purchasing UK Culture
Certainly, UK identity is something Adam believes can be instructed – and commercialized.
"In my view the reality that the international society regards us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
