"A household residing in North London seeks an remarkable and experienced instructor to assist their most junior child on his first steps to turning into an English gentleman."
Looking at this post, you might easily skip the wording "initial stages" as simple an expression.
However, it could be the most significant element of this unique employment listing, as it aims to hire a tutor for a one-year-old.
Many of applications have now been submitted since the anonymous family advertised their request for the highly paid tutor, who needs to be "someone very special".
During the past few weeks, the advert has received notice across the news, with many asking why?
Progressive Approach
The CEO, CEO and founder of an education consultancy, which is helping the family in their hunt, stated that despite first skepticism, he found the idea "forward-looking", and "innovative".
When he consulted the family, he noted they recognized the unconventional character of their request, and how early in age their son is.
Nevertheless, they clarified that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had held off until their elder sibling was five, and by that age "cultural bias had already set in".
What precisely did the family indicate by "cultural leaning"?
It's "everything", the expert answered. "The manner you eat, the manner you speak".
He stated the elder child had absorbed "extremely delicate, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had assumed their cultural habits. The family explained to the consultant they did not want history to happen again with their new baby.
The plan: To bring in a UK tutor, who should speak with standard English accent, to shape the baby right from the beginning.
Natural Absorption
"A lot of the learning at the start here is somewhat osmotic," explained Adam.
It's via this osmosis that the family are hoping the child will acquire the English characteristics they want to impart.
He explained the tutor must be somebody who studied at "the right kinds of schools – the same kinds of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The educator simply needs to be the suitable individual, they'll be doing things they don't even know they're doing, simply by nature," he added.
Cost Not Relevant
The family explained to Adam the selected educator should ideally also have knowledge of or interest in riding, winter sports, the arts and musical activities so as to influence the child in a wide range of hobbies.
More than that though, he said the family desired the tutor to enrol the child on a range of lessons so the child would be "horseback riding and starting an musical instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's minds, helping their son become a "British gentleman" will result in achievement and open doors.
"Taking into account the pros and cons of that, because it's certainly a status symbol," he comments.
Yet, despite all this guidance in "UK identity", could the child absorb what is termed cultural influence from the international family he lives with anyway?
"Yes", said the CEO. "They realize this may not work, but they've merely embraced the perspective of, 'let's give it a go and we should start as quickly as we can', because the price of it is not a concern," he said.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
There are some in the tutoring industry who share those doubts.
Peter Cui, chief executive of Blue Education, who provides individual instructors, commented that "the journey of becoming bicultural, or indeed, becoming oneself, is something that must be lived into, not manufactured."
He noted that he had moved from Asia to the UK at the age of childhood, and had been raised knowing and living dual heritages. He continued to study at the University of Cambridge.
"The idea that a single person can act as a living vessel of UK identity, a person who can somehow transplant the qualities of a English gentleman upon a one-year-old child, appears optimistic and impractical," he wrote.
"Based on my background, engaging a distinctly English tutor from infancy will does not instantly create the outcome they hope for.
"I wasn't provided with such a figure, and yet I have been lucky enough to enjoy many of the experiences they hope for their son."
He added: "The fact is, self-identity cannot be imposed from the outside; it must be selected, and it must originate internally."
Purchasing UK Culture
Of course, Britishness is something the CEO thinks can be taught – and sold.
"I believe the reality that the international society regards us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
