"Parents residing in north London is looking for an remarkable and qualified instructor to support their youngest child on his early path to turning into an British gentleman."
Looking at this advertisement, you might readily miss the phrase "initial stages" as mere figurative language.
However, it might be the most significant aspect of this unusual position posting, as it attempts to hire a tutor for a 12-month-old.
Hundreds of submissions have already been submitted since the unidentified family posted their search for the £180,000 per year tutor, who needs to be "an exceptional individual".
During the past few weeks, the listing has attracted notice across the media, with many asking why?
Innovative Idea
The CEO, head and founder of an education consultancy, which is assisting the family in their quest, explained that in spite of early scepticism, he viewed the idea "forward-looking", and "progressive".
When he consulted the family, he said they appreciated the unusual nature of their demand, and how early in age their son is.
However, they explained that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had postponed until their firstborn was five, and by that point "cultural influence had by then taken hold".
What precisely did the family mean by "cultural bias"?
It's "all-encompassing", Adam responded. "How you eat, how you speak".
He explained the elder child had adopted "really subtle, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had assumed their cultural ways. The family told the consultant they did not want this pattern to repeat itself with their new baby.
The strategy: To engage a UK tutor, who should speak with standard English accent, to shape the baby from the very start.
Natural Absorption
"A great deal of the education at the start here is kind of absorbed naturally," said the expert.
It's through this natural absorption that the family are expecting the child will pick up the British traits they want to instil.
He noted the tutor had to be somebody who studied at "prestigious academies – comparable categories of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The tutor just has to be the suitable individual, they'll be doing things they don't even know they're doing, just naturally," he said.
Money No Object
The family informed Adam the successful candidate should ideally also have knowledge of or enthusiasm in riding, alpine skiing, the arts and music so as to inspire the child in a diverse set of interests.
Additionally though, he explained the family hoped the tutor to register the child on a range of classes so the child would be "equestrian training and picking up an tool by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's view, assisting their son grow into a "British gentleman" will lead to success and open doors.
"Taking into account the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's certainly a class statement," he notes.
Yet, despite all this instruction in "Britishness", could the child adopt so-called cultural bias from the international family he is raised by regardless?
"Yes", said Adam. "They realize this may not work, but they've simply adopted the perspective of, 'we should try and we should start as early as we can', because the price of it is irrelevant," he said.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
A number of in the education sector who have similar concerns.
Peter Cui, CEO and founder of an educational organization, who provides personal educators, commented that "the development of embracing two identities, or indeed, discovering oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not manufactured."
He noted that he had relocated from Asia to the United Kingdom at the age of childhood, and had been raised experiencing and practicing both cultures. He went on to be educated at a prestigious UK institution.
"The idea that a single person can function as a living vessel of Britishness, someone who can possibly transplant the characteristics of a UK sophisticate upon a infant child, seems to me optimistic and impractical," he wrote.
"In my experience, employing a quintessentially British tutor from babyhood will will not necessarily produce the goal they want.
"I wasn't provided with such a tutor, and however I have been lucky enough to enjoy many of the experiences they aspire for their son."
He stated: "The fact is, cultural identity cannot be dictated from the external environment; it must be embraced, and it must be internally driven."
Acquiring Englishness
Of course, Britishness is something the expert thinks can be instructed – and marketed.
"I believe the situation that the international society views us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
