"Parents located in the northern part of London seeks an exceptional and skilled instructor to assist their youngest child on his early path to turning into an English gentleman."
Looking at this listing, you might readily skip the phrase "initial stages" as simple an expression.
But, it could be the crucial aspect of this unique employment listing, as it attempts to recruit a mentor for a one-year-old.
Hundreds of applications have since been submitted since the unnamed family advertised their call for the £180,000 per year tutor, who has to be "someone very special".
Over the last few weeks, the post has received notice in the media, with several asking why?
Forward-Thinking Method
The CEO, head and founder of an education consultancy, which is supporting the family in their quest, explained that in spite of initial doubt, he considered the plan "forward-looking", and "advanced".
When he spoke with the family, he mentioned they recognized the unusual nature of their demand, and how young their son is.
Nevertheless, they clarified that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to get a tutor, as they had held off until their older child was five, and by that point "cultural conditioning had already taken hold".
What precisely does the family indicate by "cultural leaning"?
It's "all-encompassing", the expert responded. "The way you eat, how you speak".
He said the elder child had picked up "very nuanced, unspoken signals" from the family, and had taken on their cultural ways. The family informed the consultant they wished to avoid history to repeat itself with their infant.
The intention: To hire a English tutor, who needs to speak with RP, to influence the baby from day one.
Osmotic Learning
"A great deal of the learning at the beginning here is kind of osmotic," said Adam.
It's via this natural absorption that the family are aiming the child will pick up the British traits they wish to cultivate.
He explained the tutor needed to be someone who studied at "the right kinds of schools – comparable categories of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The tutor must be the appropriate candidate, they'll be performing things they don't even know they're doing, effortlessly," he added.
Expense Not a Factor
The family informed him the successful candidate should ideally also have familiarity of or enthusiasm in equestrian activities, skiing, artistic pursuits and music so as to shape the child in a broad spectrum of passions.
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 learning an tool by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's view, guiding their son become a "UK sophisticate" will bring about success and open doors.
"Considering the pros and cons of that, because it's definitely a status symbol," he adds.
Yet, despite all this guidance in "Britishness", might the child pick up alleged cultural leaning from the globally influenced family he resides with in any case?
"Absolutely", said he. "They know this may not work, but they've merely embraced the perspective of, 'let's give it a go and we'll proceed as quickly as we can', because the cost of it is not a concern," he explained.
Impractical
Several in the private teaching field who have these concerns.
Peter Cui, chief executive of an educational organization, who provides individual instructors, wrote that "the process of becoming bicultural, or actually, forming one's identity, is something that must be grown into, not manufactured."
Peter wrote that he had emigrated from China to the Britain at the age of seven, and had been educated understanding and embodying both cultures. He went on to learn at the University of Cambridge.
"The idea that an individual can act as a embodiment of UK identity, a person who can in some way transplant the characteristics of a English gentleman onto a 12-month-old child, seems to me idealistic and unfeasible," he commented.
"From my perspective, engaging a typically English tutor from babyhood will does not automatically produce the result they hope for.
"I wasn't provided with such a tutor, and however I have been privileged enough to experience several of the situations they aspire for their son."
He added: "The reality is, cultural identity can not be dictated from the external environment; it must be selected, and it must originate internally."
Purchasing UK Culture
Of course, UK identity is something the expert hopes can be educated – and sold.
"In my view the situation that the world views us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
