"Parents located in north London seeks an exceptional and skilled tutor to guide their smallest child on his first steps to growing into an English gentleman."
Upon seeing this advertisement, you might readily skip the phrase "initial stages" as simple figurative language.
However, it could be the most important part of this unusual job advert, as it seeks to recruit a tutor for a 12-month-old.
Many of applications have already been submitted since the unidentified family posted their request for the £180k-a-year tutor, who needs to be "a uniquely qualified person".
During the past few weeks, the listing has attracted notice in the press, with several asking why?
Forward-Thinking Method
Adam Caller, chief executive of an education consultancy, which is assisting the family in their search, stated that notwithstanding first scepticism, he viewed the plan "far sighted", and "progressive".
When he met the family, he said they understood the atypical aspect of their request, and how young their son is.
But, they clarified that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had held off until their elder sibling was five, and by that stage "cultural conditioning had by then taken hold".
But what does the family indicate by "cultural leaning"?
It's "all-encompassing", he answered. "The manner you eat, the way you speak".
He stated the firstborn had absorbed "really subtle, body language" from the family, and had taken on their cultural norms. The family explained to him they hoped to prevent the same situation to recur with their younger child.
The plan: To bring in a UK tutor, who needs to speak with RP, to influence the baby right from the beginning.
Subtle Influence
"A great deal of the development at the start here is somewhat acquired indirectly," explained the expert.
It's by means of this osmosis that the family are expecting the child will pick up the UK customs they want to instil.
Adam said the tutor needed to be an individual who went to "prestigious academies – similar types of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The tutor must be the appropriate candidate, they'll be doing things they may not realize they're doing, just naturally," he commented.
Cost Not Relevant
The family informed Adam the chosen tutor should ideally also have familiarity of or enthusiasm in horse riding, skiing, artistic pursuits and music so as to influence the child in a broad spectrum of hobbies.
More than that though, he explained the family hoped the tutor to register the child on a variety of lessons so the child would be "horseback riding and picking up an instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's perspective, assisting their son become a "English gentleman" will result in achievement and open doors.
"Considering the pros and cons of that, because it's definitely a class statement," he comments.
Yet, in spite of all this tutelage in "Britishness", might the child absorb what is termed cultural bias from the globally influenced family he is raised by anyway?
"Yes", answered Adam. "The parents know this could fail, but they've just taken the view of, 'let's give it a go and we should start as quickly as we can', because the expense of it is not relevant," he said.
Overly Optimistic
Several in the private teaching field who express those concerns.
An education leader, chief executive of an educational organization, who also offer private tutors, stated that "the journey of adopting dual cultures, or indeed, forming one's identity, is something that must be experienced personally, not manufactured."
He wrote that he had emigrated from Asia to the United Kingdom at the time of 7 years old, and had been raised experiencing and practicing both cultures. He continued to learn at Cambridge University.
"The notion that an individual can act as a embodiment of Britishness, a person who can somehow impart the qualities of a UK sophisticate onto a one-year-old child, strikes me as optimistic and unfeasible," he stated.
"In my experience, engaging a typically UK tutor from early childhood will will not automatically create the outcome they want.
"I did not have that kind of mentor, and however I have been lucky enough to experience many of the situations they hope for their son."
He added: "The truth is, personal identity can not be forced from the outside influences; it must be chosen, and it must be internally driven."
Buying Britishness
Certainly, UK identity is something the CEO hopes can be instructed – and commercialized.
"I believe the fact that the international society regards us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
