"A family residing in the northern part of London is looking for an exceptional and skilled tutor to assist their smallest child on his first steps to becoming an English gentleman."
Upon seeing this advertisement, you might easily overlook the term "initial stages" as just an expression.
Yet, it may be the crucial element of this distinctive employment listing, as it aims to find a mentor for a 12-month-old.
Hundreds of responses have since been sent in since the unnamed family posted their call for the £180k-a-year tutor, who needs to be "an exceptional individual".
In recent few weeks, the listing has attracted interest throughout the media, with many asking why?
Forward-Thinking Method
The CEO, CEO and founder of Tutors International, which is assisting the family in their quest, said that notwithstanding first scepticism, he considered the plan "forward-looking", and "progressive".
When he spoke with the family, he noted they appreciated the atypical aspect of their request, and how early in age their son is.
However, they explained that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had waited until their elder sibling was five, and by that age "cultural influence had already become established".
What exactly does the family indicate by "cultural leaning"?
It's "everything", the expert responded. "How you eat, how you speak".
He said the elder child had picked up "really subtle, body language" from the family, and had assumed their cultural habits. The family explained to the consultant they did not want history to recur with their new baby.
The plan: To bring in a UK tutor, who must speak with standard English accent, to influence the baby from the very start.
Subtle Influence
"A lot of the learning at the outset here is kind of acquired indirectly," said the CEO.
It's via this natural absorption that the family are aiming the child will acquire the British traits they want to cultivate.
Adam explained the tutor must be someone who attended "the appropriate educational institutions – the same kinds of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The instructor just has to be the right kind of person, they'll be doing things they don't even know they're doing, simply by nature," he added.
Expense Not a Factor
The family informed him the successful candidate should ideally also have knowledge of or enthusiasm in equestrian activities, skiing, creative fields and instrumental training so as to shape the child in a broad spectrum of hobbies.
Furthermore though, he said the family wanted the tutor to enrol the child on a variety of classes so the child would be "equestrian training and starting an musical instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's view, assisting their son grow into a "UK sophisticate" will bring about accomplishment and open doors.
"For all the pros and cons of that, because it's undoubtedly a status symbol," he comments.
Yet, in spite of all this tutelage in "English culture", would the child pick up so-called cultural influence from the international family he lives with anyway?
"Certainly", said the CEO. "The family realize this may not work, but they've merely embraced the view of, 'why not attempt it and let's go as quickly as we can', because the expense of it is not a concern," he explained.
Impractical
A number of in the private teaching field who share similar doubts.
Peter Cui, head and founder of a tutoring service, who also offer individual instructors, commented that "the development of adopting dual cultures, or in fact, discovering oneself, is something that must be lived into, not manufactured."
He explained that he had emigrated from the Far East to the Britain at the age of 7 years old, and had been educated understanding and living two backgrounds. He continued to study at Cambridge University.
"The notion that an individual can serve as a living vessel of UK identity, a person who can somehow impart the qualities of a UK sophisticate to a 12-month-old child, appears optimistic and unrealistic," he wrote.
"Based on my background, engaging a typically English tutor from early childhood will will not automatically achieve the outcome they want.
"I wasn't provided with such a tutor, and however I have been fortunate enough to experience many of the experiences they aspire for their son."
He added: "The reality is, self-identity should not be forced from the external environment; it must be selected, and it must be internally driven."
Buying Britishness
Naturally, UK identity is something the expert thinks can be educated – and marketed.
"I believe the fact that the world regards us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
