"A family based in north London wants to find an exceptional and qualified tutor to guide their most junior child on his first steps to turning into an English gentleman."
Looking at this listing, you might easily overlook the term "initial stages" as simple figurative language.
But, it might be the most important element of this distinctive position posting, as it seeks to find a mentor for a one-year-old.
Hundreds of submissions have now been received since the unidentified family posted their call for the £180k-a-year tutor, who needs to be "an exceptional individual".
In recent few weeks, the advert has attracted attention throughout the press, with several asking why?
Progressive Approach
Adam Caller, head and founder of an education consultancy, which is assisting the family in their quest, stated that despite first scepticism, he found the concept "forward-looking", and "progressive".
When he spoke with the family, he mentioned they appreciated the unconventional character of their request, and how early in age their son is.
But, they clarified that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had postponed until their older child was five, and by that age "cultural conditioning had by then become established".
What exactly does the family indicate by "cultural bias"?
It's "everything", Adam answered. "The manner you eat, how you speak".
He said the older sibling had absorbed "really subtle, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had taken on their cultural norms. The family explained to him they did not want the same situation to happen again with their new baby.
The plan: To hire a English tutor, who needs to speak with standard English accent, to influence the baby from day one.
Osmotic Learning
"A lot of the education at the outset here is rather acquired indirectly," stated the expert.
It's by means of this natural absorption that the family are aiming the child will acquire the UK customs they want to instil.
He noted the tutor must be an individual who attended "prestigious academies – the same kinds of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The educator must be the appropriate candidate, they'll be doing things they don't even know they're doing, simply by nature," he added.
Money No Object
The family informed Adam the successful candidate should ideally also have familiarity of or interest in riding, winter sports, artistic pursuits and instrumental training so as to shape the child in a broad spectrum of passions.
Additionally though, he stated the family hoped the tutor to register the child on a range of courses so the child would be "pony-riding and starting an tool by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's minds, assisting their son develop into a "English gentleman" will result in accomplishment and open doors.
"Considering the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's undoubtedly a status symbol," he notes.
However, notwithstanding all this guidance in "Britishness", might the child absorb alleged cultural bias from the international family he resides with anyway?
"Absolutely", said he. "The parents know this may not work, but they've simply adopted the perspective of, 'let's give it a go and let's go as early as we can', because the expense of it is irrelevant," he said.
Overly Optimistic
A number of in the private teaching field who express these reservations.
Another CEO, CEO and founder of a tutoring service, who supplies personal educators, wrote that "the journey of becoming bicultural, or in fact, forming one's identity, is something that must be grown into, not manufactured."
The expert wrote that he had moved from China to the Britain at the period of childhood, and had been brought up experiencing and practicing both cultures. He continued to study at a prestigious UK institution.
"The concept that one individual can serve as a living vessel of Britishness, a person who can in some way transplant the qualities of a English gentleman to a one-year-old child, appears idealistic and unfeasible," he stated.
"In my experience, having a quintessentially English tutor from infancy will not instantly achieve the outcome they want.
"I never had such a tutor, and nevertheless I have been fortunate enough to enjoy several of the experiences they hope for their son."
He continued: "The fact is, cultural identity can not be imposed from the external environment; it must be selected, and it must originate internally."
Buying Britishness
Of course, Britishness is something the expert hopes can be taught – and marketed.
"I think the fact that the global community holds us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
