"Parents based in north London is looking for an exceptional and qualified educator to assist their youngest child on his early path to turning into an British gentleman."
Upon seeing this listing, you might easily skip the phrase "initial stages" as simple an expression.
However, it might be the most important element of this unusual job advert, as it aims to find a teacher for a one-year-old.
Many of applications have since been received since the unnamed family advertised their request for the highly paid tutor, who has to be "an exceptional individual".
During the past few weeks, the post has gained attention in the press, with numerous questioning why?
Innovative Idea
A tutoring expert, chief executive of Tutors International, which is helping the family in their quest, said that despite initial scepticism, he found the concept "forward-looking", and "innovative".
When he met the family, he said they understood the unusual character of their request, and how immature their son is.
But, they clarified that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had held off until their elder sibling was five, and by that point "cultural influence had already become established".
But what does the family indicate by "cultural bias"?
It's "all-encompassing", the expert replied. "The way you eat, how you speak".
He said the firstborn had picked up "really subtle, unspoken signals" from the family, and had assumed their cultural norms. The family explained to him they did not want history to recur with their infant.
The intention: To engage a English tutor, who must speak with Received Pronunciation, to guide the baby right from the beginning.
Subtle Influence
"A lot of the development at the beginning here is somewhat osmotic," explained the CEO.
It's via this subtle influence that the family are expecting the child will acquire the English characteristics they want to instil.
Adam noted the tutor must be an individual who went to "the right kinds of schools – comparable categories of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The educator simply needs to be the right kind of person, they'll be carrying out things they don't even know they're doing, simply by nature," he added.
Cost Not Relevant
The family informed Adam the chosen tutor should preferably also have knowledge of or interest in equestrian activities, winter sports, creative fields and music so as to shape the child in a broad spectrum of interests.
Furthermore though, he stated the family hoped the tutor to register the child on a variety of classes so the child would be "pony-riding and learning an tool by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's view, assisting their son develop into a "English gentleman" will lead to achievement and create opportunities.
"Taking into account the pros and cons of that, because it's definitely a class statement," he notes.
However, notwithstanding all this instruction in "English culture", would the child adopt what is termed cultural leaning from the globally influenced family he resides with regardless?
"Yes", answered Adam. "The family know this might not succeed, but they've simply adopted the view of, 'we should try and let's go as quickly as we can', because the price of it is not a concern," he explained.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
A number of in the education sector who have these reservations.
Another CEO, CEO and founder of an educational organization, who also offer personal educators, stated that "the development of embracing two identities, or actually, becoming oneself, is something that must be lived into, not designed."
The expert explained that he had relocated from China to the United Kingdom at the time of childhood, and had been raised knowing and embodying both cultures. He continued to be educated at a prestigious UK institution.
"The idea that one individual can function as a representation of UK identity, a person who can in some way transplant the characteristics of a British gentleman upon a one-year-old child, seems to me optimistic and unfeasible," he wrote.
"Based on my background, engaging a quintessentially English tutor from babyhood will does not instantly achieve the outcome they desire.
"I never had such a figure, and nevertheless I have been privileged enough to live numerous of the situations they desire for their son."
He continued: "The truth is, self-identity should not be dictated from the external environment; it must be selected, and it must come from within."
Purchasing UK Culture
Certainly, UK identity is something Adam believes can be instructed – and sold.
"In my view the fact that the world regards us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
