"A family residing in North London wants to find an exceptional and skilled instructor to assist their youngest child on his early path to becoming an English gentleman."
Looking at this post, you might readily miss the phrase "initial stages" as simple figurative language.
However, it might be the crucial element of this unusual position posting, as it aims to find a tutor for a one-year-old.
Many of applications have already been sent in since the anonymous family published their call for the highly paid tutor, who has to be "someone very special".
In recent few weeks, the listing has gained interest throughout the media, with many questioning why?
Progressive Approach
Adam Caller, CEO and founder of Tutors International, which is helping the family in their hunt, explained that in spite of early skepticism, he viewed the plan "visionary", and "innovative".
When he consulted the family, he noted they appreciated the unusual nature of their requirement, and how young their son is.
Nevertheless, they explained that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had waited until their older child was five, and by that age "cultural influence had already taken hold".
But what did the family indicate by "cultural leaning"?
It's "comprehensive", he responded. "The way you eat, the way you speak".
He said the elder child had picked up "very nuanced, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had taken on their cultural habits. The family explained to him they wished to avoid the same situation to recur with their infant.
The plan: To engage a British tutor, who needs to speak with standard English accent, to shape the baby right from the beginning.
Osmotic Learning
"Much of the development at the start here is kind of absorbed naturally," said the CEO.
It's by means of this subtle influence that the family are expecting the child will adopt the UK customs they wish to impart.
He noted the tutor had to be someone who studied at "the right kinds of schools – comparable categories of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The instructor just has to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be performing things they may not realize they're doing, just naturally," he said.
Expense Not a Factor
The family explained to Adam the selected educator should ideally also have understanding of or passion in riding, alpine skiing, artistic pursuits and instrumental training so as to shape the child in a diverse set of interests.
More than that though, he said the family hoped the tutor to enrol the child on a variety of courses so the child would be "horseback riding and starting an instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's view, guiding their son grow into a "British gentleman" will bring about accomplishment and create opportunities.
"Considering the pros and cons of that, because it's definitely a class statement," he notes.
But, notwithstanding all this tutelage in "English culture", might the child adopt what is termed cultural bias from the globally influenced family he lives with in any case?
"Yes", said Adam. "The family know this could fail, but they've merely embraced the attitude of, 'we should try and let's go as quickly as we can', because the expense of it is irrelevant," he stated.
Impractical
Several in the education sector who have those concerns.
Peter Cui, chief executive of an educational organization, who provides individual instructors, commented that "the journey of embracing two identities, or actually, discovering oneself, is something that must be grown into, not designed."
He wrote that he had moved from Asia to the UK at the period of seven, and had been raised understanding and living dual heritages. He continued to study at a prestigious UK institution.
"The idea that one individual can act as a representation of Britishness, a person who can in some way transfer the characteristics of a English gentleman to a one-year-old child, strikes me as idealistic and unfeasible," he commented.
"From my perspective, having a typically British tutor from infancy will will not necessarily achieve the outcome they hope for.
"I never had such a figure, and nevertheless I have been lucky enough to live several of the experiences they desire for their son."
He stated: "The truth is, personal identity should not be forced from the external environment; it must be embraced, and it must come from within."
Buying Britishness
Naturally, English culture is something the expert hopes can be taught – and marketed.
"In my view the fact that the international society holds us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
