"Parents based in North London seeks an extraordinary and skilled tutor to guide their most junior child on his early path to turning into an English gentleman."
When reading this listing, you might naturally skip the wording "initial stages" as mere a turn of phrase.
However, it might be the most significant element of this distinctive job advert, as it aims to recruit a teacher for a infant.
Hundreds of applications have now been sent in since the unnamed family published their search for the highly paid tutor, who needs to be "someone very special".
Over the last few weeks, the listing has received attention across the media, with numerous asking why?
Progressive Approach
Adam Caller, CEO and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is helping the family in their quest, said that notwithstanding initial skepticism, he considered the idea "visionary", and "advanced".
When he met the family, he mentioned they recognized the unconventional aspect of their demand, and how early in age their son is.
But, they clarified that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had waited until their elder sibling was five, and by that age "cultural bias had already taken hold".
What exactly did the family refer to by "cultural bias"?
It's "everything", he responded. "The manner you eat, how you speak".
He stated the older sibling had absorbed "extremely delicate, body language" from the family, and had adopted their cultural ways. The family explained to Adam they did not want history to happen again with their infant.
The strategy: To bring in a UK tutor, who needs to speak with Received Pronunciation, to shape the baby from the very start.
Subtle Influence
"A lot of the education at the beginning here is kind of acquired indirectly," stated Adam.
It's by means of this natural absorption that the family are aiming the child will pick up the UK customs they wish to impart.
The consultant said the tutor must be somebody who went to "prestigious academies – comparable categories of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The tutor must be the appropriate candidate, they'll be doing things they don't even know they're doing, effortlessly," he added.
Money No Object
The family told him the chosen tutor should ideally also have familiarity of or passion in riding, winter sports, artistic pursuits and music so as to inspire the child in a diverse set of passions.
Furthermore though, he said the family wanted the tutor to enrol the child on a selection of courses so the child would be "equestrian training and picking up an musical instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's perspective, guiding their son become a "UK sophisticate" will result in achievement and provide access.
"For all the pros and cons of that, because it's certainly a social class indicator," he comments.
But, despite all this tutelage in "Britishness", would the child absorb so-called cultural influence from the multicultural family he resides with in any case?
"Certainly", said he. "The family know this may not work, but they've simply adopted the perspective of, 'why not attempt it and let's go as quickly as we can', because the cost of it is irrelevant," he explained.
Overly Optimistic
A number of in the tutoring industry who express these reservations.
Peter Cui, head and founder of a tutoring service, who supplies personal educators, commented that "the development of adopting dual cultures, or indeed, forming one's identity, is something that must be lived into, not engineered."
Peter wrote that he had relocated from Asia to the UK at the period of seven, and had been raised experiencing and living dual heritages. He went on to study at a prestigious UK institution.
"The concept that one individual can function as a living vessel of UK identity, an individual who can possibly transfer the qualities of a English gentleman upon a infant child, strikes me as naive and impractical," he commented.
"From my perspective, engaging a distinctly UK tutor from infancy will not automatically create the result they want.
"I did not have that kind of mentor, and yet I have been lucky enough to experience many of the situations they desire for their son."
He stated: "The truth is, cultural identity can not be imposed from the external environment; it must be embraced, and it must originate internally."
Acquiring Englishness
Certainly, Britishness is something Adam thinks can be instructed – and commercialized.
"In my view the fact that the international society regards us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
