"A family based in north London seeks an extraordinary and skilled educator to guide their smallest child on his early path to growing into an English gentleman."
When reading this post, you might naturally overlook the wording "initial stages" as mere an expression.
Yet, it could be the most important element of this unique position posting, as it aims to hire a tutor for a one-year-old.
Numerous of responses have already been submitted since the anonymous family posted their call for the £180,000 per year tutor, who has to be "a uniquely qualified person".
Over the last few weeks, the listing has attracted notice throughout the media, with numerous questioning why?
Progressive Approach
Adam Caller, head and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is assisting the family in their hunt, explained that notwithstanding initial scepticism, he considered the plan "forward-looking", and "advanced".
When he met the family, he mentioned they recognized the unusual nature of their requirement, and how early in age their son is.
Nevertheless, they explained that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to get a tutor, as they had postponed until their elder sibling was five, and by that stage "cultural influence had already set in".
What exactly does the family mean by "cultural leaning"?
It's "all-encompassing", Adam responded. "How you eat, the manner you speak".
He stated the firstborn had absorbed "really subtle, body language" from the family, and had taken on their cultural habits. The family informed him they wished to avoid this pattern to happen again with their infant.
The plan: To bring in a English tutor, who should speak with standard English accent, to shape the baby from the very start.
Subtle Influence
"A lot of the learning at the outset here is somewhat absorbed naturally," explained the CEO.
It's through this subtle influence that the family are hoping the child will adopt the UK customs they want to instil.
Adam said the tutor needed to be someone who went to "prestigious academies – similar types of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The instructor simply needs to be the right kind of person, they'll be carrying out things they aren't even aware they're doing, simply by nature," he said.
Cost Not Relevant
The family explained to the expert the chosen tutor should preferably also have knowledge of or passion in equestrian activities, alpine skiing, artistic pursuits and instrumental training so as to influence the child in a wide range of hobbies.
Additionally though, he explained the family wanted the tutor to sign up the child on a range of classes so the child would be "pony-riding and picking up an instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's view, guiding their son become a "UK sophisticate" will lead to achievement and open doors.
"Considering the pros and cons of that, because it's certainly a status symbol," he comments.
However, notwithstanding all this tutelage in "UK identity", could the child absorb alleged cultural influence from the international family he is raised by anyway?
"Yes", answered Adam. "The family realize this may not work, but they've merely embraced the view of, 'why not attempt it and we'll proceed as quickly as we can', because the cost of it is not a concern," he stated.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
Several in the private teaching field who have similar concerns.
Another CEO, CEO and founder of a tutoring service, who supplies individual instructors, commented that "the journey of embracing two identities, or in fact, becoming oneself, is something that must be grown into, not engineered."
He noted that he had relocated from Asia to the Britain at the time of seven, and had been brought up experiencing and practicing both cultures. He continued to learn at Cambridge University.
"The notion that an individual can function as a living vessel of Britishness, a person who can possibly transplant the attributes of a UK sophisticate upon a 12-month-old child, seems to me idealistic and unfeasible," he wrote.
"From my perspective, engaging a quintessentially UK tutor from babyhood will does not necessarily create the goal they want.
"I never had that kind of mentor, and however I have been privileged enough to enjoy many of the opportunities they desire for their son."
He continued: "The reality is, cultural identity should not be imposed from the outside; it must be selected, and it must originate internally."
Purchasing UK Culture
Naturally, English culture is something the expert thinks can be instructed – and commercialized.
"I think the fact that the global community views us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
