"A household located in North London seeks an extraordinary and skilled tutor to guide their youngest child on his early path to becoming an British gentleman."
Upon seeing this post, you might readily skip the phrase "initial stages" as simple figurative language.
But, it could be the crucial aspect of this distinctive employment listing, as it attempts to hire a teacher for a 12-month-old.
Numerous of applications have now been sent in since the anonymous family advertised their request for the £180,000 per year tutor, who needs to be "someone very special".
In recent few weeks, the post has attracted notice in the media, with numerous questioning why?
Innovative Idea
Adam Caller, CEO and founder of an education consultancy, which is helping the family in their search, explained that despite early scepticism, he found the idea "visionary", and "innovative".
When he met the family, he said they understood the atypical character of their requirement, and how immature their son is.
Nevertheless, they stated that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had held off until their elder sibling was five, and by that age "cultural conditioning had already taken hold".
What exactly does the family mean by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "comprehensive", he responded. "The manner you eat, how you speak".
He explained the firstborn had adopted "extremely delicate, unspoken signals" from the family, and had adopted their cultural ways. The family told the consultant they hoped to prevent history to repeat itself with their infant.
The plan: To bring in a UK tutor, who needs to speak with Received Pronunciation, to guide the baby right from the beginning.
Subtle Influence
"A lot of the learning at the start here is kind of absorbed naturally," said the CEO.
It's via this natural absorption that the family are expecting the child will pick up the UK customs they wish to impart.
He explained the tutor must be someone who attended "the appropriate educational institutions – similar types of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The tutor must be the right kind of person, they'll be performing things they may not realize they're doing, simply by nature," he added.
Expense Not a Factor
The family told him the selected educator should ideally also have familiarity of or enthusiasm in equestrian activities, winter sports, creative fields and instrumental training so as to shape the child in a wide range of hobbies.
More than that though, he explained the family hoped the tutor to enrol the child on a selection of classes so the child would be "horseback riding and picking up an instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's minds, helping their son grow into a "English gentleman" will lead to success and create opportunities.
"For all the pros and cons of that, because it's undoubtedly a social class indicator," he comments.
But, notwithstanding all this instruction in "English culture", might the child pick up what is termed cultural bias from the international family he resides with in any case?
"Yes", answered he. "The family understand this might not succeed, but they've merely embraced the view of, 'let's give it a go and let's go as soon as we can', because the expense of it is not a concern," he stated.
Overly Optimistic
Several in the tutoring industry who express these doubts.
An education leader, head and founder of a tutoring service, who also offer personal educators, stated that "the process of becoming bicultural, or indeed, forming one's identity, is something that must be grown into, not designed."
He wrote that he had moved from China to the Britain at the age of childhood, and had been raised experiencing and practicing both cultures. He continued to study at a prestigious UK institution.
"The notion that a single person can act as a embodiment of Britishness, an individual who can possibly impart the attributes of a UK sophisticate onto a 12-month-old child, strikes me as optimistic and impractical," he stated.
"Based on my background, engaging a distinctly UK tutor from infancy will will not necessarily achieve the goal they want.
"I wasn't provided with that kind of mentor, and yet I have been lucky enough to enjoy many of the situations they aspire for their son."
He stated: "The truth is, cultural identity cannot be imposed from the outside; it must be embraced, and it must originate internally."
Acquiring Englishness
Naturally, UK identity is something Adam believes can be taught – and sold.
"In my view the fact that the international society holds us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
