"A household located in the northern part of London wants to find an extraordinary and experienced instructor to guide their youngest child on his early path to becoming an British gentleman."
When reading this advertisement, you might readily skip the wording "initial stages" as mere an expression.
But, it may be the most important part of this unusual employment listing, as it aims to recruit a tutor for a 12-month-old.
Hundreds of applications have already been received since the unnamed family posted their search for the highly paid tutor, who needs to be "someone very special".
During the past few weeks, the post has attracted interest across the media, with many wondering why?
Progressive Approach
Adam Caller, CEO and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is helping the family in their quest, said that despite initial skepticism, he considered the concept "visionary", and "advanced".
When he consulted the family, he said they understood the unconventional character of their request, and how young their son is.
But, they stated that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had postponed until their older child was five, and by that stage "cultural influence had already set in".
What exactly did the family refer to by "cultural leaning"?
It's "everything", he answered. "The manner you eat, the manner you speak".
He said the firstborn had absorbed "extremely delicate, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had assumed their cultural habits. The family explained to him they did not want this pattern to repeat itself with their younger child.
The intention: To engage a British tutor, who should speak with Received Pronunciation, to shape the baby from the very start.
Osmotic Learning
"Much of the learning at the beginning here is rather osmotic," said the expert.
It's via this subtle influence that the family are hoping the child will adopt the UK customs they aim to impart.
He said the tutor must be someone who studied at "the right kinds of schools – similar types of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The educator must be the right kind of person, they'll be doing things they may not realize they're doing, just naturally," he commented.
Money No Object
The family told Adam the successful candidate should preferably also have understanding of or passion in riding, skiing, artistic pursuits and musical activities so as to shape the child in a broad spectrum of hobbies.
Furthermore though, he stated 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 around three years old".
In the family's minds, helping their son grow into a "UK sophisticate" will result in accomplishment and open doors.
"Considering the rights and wrongs of that, because it's undoubtedly a social class indicator," he adds.
But, despite all this guidance in "UK identity", would the child absorb so-called cultural influence from the multicultural family he is raised by regardless?
"Absolutely", replied the CEO. "The family understand this could fail, but they've simply adopted the perspective of, 'we should try and we should start as quickly as we can', because the price of it is irrelevant," he stated.
Overly Optimistic
A number of in the tutoring industry who have those reservations.
Another CEO, CEO and founder of an educational organization, who provides individual instructors, stated that "the journey of adopting dual cultures, or actually, discovering oneself, is something that must be lived into, not engineered."
Peter noted that he had relocated from China to the Britain at the age of childhood, and had been brought up experiencing and living both cultures. He went on to study at the University of Cambridge.
"The concept that an individual can serve as a living vessel of English culture, a person who can somehow transplant the attributes of a UK sophisticate onto a infant child, appears naive and impractical," he stated.
"Based on my background, engaging a distinctly British tutor from infancy will not necessarily create the goal they want.
"I did not have such a figure, and however I have been fortunate enough to enjoy numerous of the situations they desire for their son."
He continued: "The truth is, self-identity should not be imposed from the outside; it must be chosen, and it must originate internally."
Buying Britishness
Certainly, English culture is something Adam believes can be educated – and sold.
"I think the situation that the international society views us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
