"A household located in north London wants to find an extraordinary and qualified tutor to assist their most junior child on his early path to growing into an English gentleman."
When reading this advertisement, you might easily skip the phrase "initial stages" as just a turn of phrase.
However, it might be the most important part of this distinctive employment listing, as it attempts to find a tutor for a 12-month-old.
Hundreds of responses have already been sent in since the unnamed family posted their request for the highly paid tutor, who has to be "a uniquely qualified person".
During the past few weeks, the advert has attracted attention in the press, with many wondering why?
Forward-Thinking Method
Adam Caller, CEO and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is helping the family in their quest, said that despite first scepticism, he viewed the plan "visionary", and "innovative".
When he consulted the family, he noted they recognized the unconventional character of their demand, and how young their son is.
However, they stated that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had postponed until their elder sibling was five, and by that age "cultural bias had already taken hold".
What precisely did the family refer to by "cultural leaning"?
It's "comprehensive", the expert responded. "The manner you eat, how you speak".
He said the older sibling had adopted "really subtle, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had adopted their cultural norms. The family told the consultant they hoped to prevent the same situation to happen again with their infant.
The intention: To engage a UK tutor, who needs to speak with standard English accent, to guide the baby from the very start.
Osmotic Learning
"A great deal of the learning at the outset here is somewhat osmotic," stated the CEO.
It's through this subtle influence that the family are expecting the child will pick up the UK customs they want to instil.
Adam noted the tutor needed to be someone who studied at "the appropriate educational institutions – comparable categories 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, just naturally," he added.
Money No Object
The family informed the expert the chosen tutor should ideally also have understanding of or enthusiasm in horse riding, skiing, artistic pursuits and musical activities so as to influence the child in a wide range of interests.
More than that though, he explained the family desired the tutor to enrol the child on a variety of classes so the child would be "pony-riding and learning an musical instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's view, assisting their son develop into a "UK sophisticate" will bring about accomplishment and create opportunities.
"Considering the rights and wrongs of that, because it's definitely a social class indicator," he notes.
Yet, despite all this guidance in "English culture", would the child absorb what is termed cultural influence from the globally influenced family he lives with regardless?
"Absolutely", replied he. "The family realize this may not work, but they've just taken the attitude of, 'why not attempt it and we should start as early as we can', because the cost of it is irrelevant," he said.
Overly Optimistic
A number of in the tutoring industry who share similar reservations.
Peter Cui, CEO and founder of a tutoring service, who also offer individual instructors, commented that "the journey of adopting dual cultures, or actually, discovering oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not engineered."
Peter wrote that he had emigrated from China to the UK at the time of 7 years old, and had been raised understanding and embodying two backgrounds. He progressed to be educated at the University of Cambridge.
"The idea that a single person can act as a embodiment of UK identity, someone who can possibly transplant the attributes of a British gentleman upon a 12-month-old child, strikes me as optimistic and unfeasible," he stated.
"From my perspective, having a distinctly British tutor from babyhood will not automatically achieve the result they desire.
"I did not have such a tutor, and however I have been lucky enough to live many of the experiences they desire for their son."
He continued: "The reality is, self-identity should not be forced from the external environment; it must be chosen, and it must come from within."
Purchasing UK Culture
Certainly, English culture is something the expert believes can be taught – and commercialized.
"I believe the fact that the international society views us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
