"Parents located in the northern part of London is looking for an exceptional and qualified instructor to guide their most junior child on his first steps to growing into an British gentleman."
Upon seeing this advertisement, you might easily skip the term "initial stages" as mere an expression.
However, it might be the crucial element of this unusual position posting, as it attempts to find a mentor for a 12-month-old.
Hundreds of submissions have already been sent in since the unnamed family advertised their search for the £180k-a-year tutor, who has to be "someone very special".
Over the last few weeks, the advert has received interest throughout the news, with numerous wondering why?
Forward-Thinking Method
A tutoring expert, head and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is assisting the family in their search, said that notwithstanding first skepticism, he found the idea "forward-looking", and "progressive".
When he spoke with the family, he said they understood the atypical aspect of their request, and how early in age their son is.
Nevertheless, they clarified that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had held off until their older child was five, and by that point "cultural conditioning had already set in".
What precisely does the family refer to by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "everything", the expert responded. "The manner you eat, how you speak".
He explained the older sibling had absorbed "really subtle, unspoken signals" from the family, and had assumed their cultural norms. The family informed Adam they wished to avoid history to happen again with their new baby.
The intention: To hire a English tutor, who needs to speak with Received Pronunciation, to shape the baby from day one.
Osmotic Learning
"A great deal of the development at the beginning here is kind of osmotic," said the CEO.
It's via this natural absorption that the family are aiming the child will acquire the English characteristics they wish to cultivate.
Adam noted the tutor needed to be somebody who attended "the appropriate educational institutions – similar types of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The instructor simply needs to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be performing things they don't even know they're doing, effortlessly," he added.
Money No Object
The family informed him the successful candidate should preferably also have knowledge of or interest 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 said the family wanted the tutor to sign up the child on a variety of courses so the child would be "horseback riding and starting an instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's minds, assisting their son become a "British gentleman" will lead to accomplishment and open doors.
"Taking into account the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's undoubtedly a class statement," he comments.
Yet, notwithstanding all this tutelage in "UK identity", would the child pick up what is termed cultural influence from the globally influenced family he resides with in any case?
"Certainly", answered the CEO. "The family know this may not work, but they've simply adopted the attitude of, 'we should try and we'll proceed as soon as we can', because the cost of it is not relevant," he said.
Overly Optimistic
Several in the education sector who have those doubts.
Another CEO, chief executive of an educational organization, who also offer private tutors, commented that "the journey of embracing two identities, or indeed, becoming oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not engineered."
The expert explained that he had relocated from the Far East to the Britain at the period of seven, and had been raised knowing and practicing both cultures. He progressed to learn at the University of Cambridge.
"The notion that one individual can serve as a representation of UK identity, an individual who can possibly transplant the qualities of a English gentleman upon a one-year-old child, seems to me optimistic and unfeasible," he wrote.
"Based on my background, engaging a distinctly English tutor from babyhood will does not necessarily achieve the goal they want.
"I wasn't provided with such a figure, and however I have been lucky enough to experience several of the situations they desire for their son."
He continued: "The fact is, personal identity can not be forced from the outside; it must be selected, and it must originate internally."
Purchasing UK Culture
Certainly, Britishness is something the expert hopes can be taught – and commercialized.
"I think the reality that the global community views us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating