"Parents located in north London is looking for an remarkable and qualified tutor to guide their youngest child on his early path to turning into an English gentleman."
When reading this listing, you might naturally overlook the term "initial stages" as mere an expression.
But, it could be the crucial aspect of this unique job advert, as it aims to recruit a mentor for a one-year-old.
Many of submissions have already been received since the unidentified family published their search for the £180,000 per year tutor, who must be "someone very special".
Over the last few weeks, the listing has attracted interest throughout the news, with several wondering why?
Progressive Approach
Adam Caller, CEO and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is helping the family in their search, explained that in spite of initial skepticism, he viewed the plan "forward-looking", and "advanced".
When he spoke with the family, he said they understood the atypical aspect of their demand, and how young their son is.
Nevertheless, they stated that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to get a tutor, as they had waited until their older child was five, and by that age "cultural conditioning had already set in".
What precisely did the family refer to by "cultural bias"?
It's "everything", Adam answered. "The way you eat, the way you speak".
He explained the firstborn had absorbed "really subtle, body language" from the family, and had taken on their cultural habits. The family explained to the consultant they did not want this pattern to happen again with their infant.
The plan: To hire a English tutor, who should speak with standard English accent, to influence the baby from day one.
Subtle Influence
"A great deal of the education at the outset here is somewhat osmotic," said Adam.
It's through this subtle influence that the family are expecting the child will pick up the English characteristics they aim to instil.
The consultant noted the tutor had to be an individual who attended "the appropriate educational institutions – comparable categories of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The instructor simply needs to be the suitable individual, they'll be doing things they don't even know they're doing, just naturally," he said.
Expense Not a Factor
The family informed him the selected educator should preferably also have knowledge of or passion in equestrian activities, winter sports, artistic pursuits and instrumental training so as to influence the child in a diverse set of interests.
More than that though, he explained the family hoped the tutor to register the child on a range of classes so the child would be "horseback riding and picking up an musical instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's minds, guiding their son become a "English gentleman" will bring about success and open doors.
"For all the rights and wrongs of that, because it's definitely a status symbol," he comments.
However, despite all this instruction in "UK identity", might the child absorb what is termed cultural leaning from the globally influenced family he lives with regardless?
"Yes", answered Adam. "The parents understand this may not work, but they've merely embraced the attitude of, 'why not attempt it and we should start as early as we can', because the expense of it is not a concern," he said.
Overly Optimistic
Several in the tutoring industry who have these concerns.
Peter Cui, head and founder of Blue Education, who provides private tutors, wrote that "the development of embracing two identities, or actually, discovering oneself, is something that must be grown into, not designed."
He explained that he had emigrated from Asia to the Britain at the time of seven, and had been brought up experiencing and living both cultures. He progressed to be educated at Cambridge University.
"The notion that one individual can serve as a living vessel of English culture, a person who can somehow transplant the qualities of a British gentleman upon a infant child, appears naive and unrealistic," he wrote.
"Based on my background, having a quintessentially UK tutor from babyhood will not necessarily create the outcome they desire.
"I never had such a tutor, and however I have been fortunate enough to live numerous of the situations they aspire for their son."
He stated: "The fact is, cultural identity cannot be dictated from the outside influences; it must be selected, and it must be internally driven."
Acquiring Englishness
Certainly, UK identity is something the expert thinks can be educated – and marketed.
"In my view the fact that the world regards us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
