"A family based in the northern part of London seeks an exceptional and qualified tutor to assist their most junior child on his early path to growing into an English gentleman."
Upon seeing this advertisement, you might easily skip the phrase "initial stages" as mere a turn of phrase.
However, it could be the most significant aspect of this distinctive job advert, as it attempts to hire a tutor for a infant.
Hundreds of responses have now been received since the unidentified family posted their search for the £180k-a-year tutor, who has to be "an exceptional individual".
During the past few weeks, the post has attracted interest throughout the press, with many asking why?
Forward-Thinking Method
A tutoring expert, chief executive of an education consultancy, which is assisting the family in their hunt, stated that despite first scepticism, he considered the idea "visionary", and "advanced".
When he consulted the family, he mentioned they recognized the atypical character of their requirement, and how young their son is.
However, they clarified that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had waited until their firstborn was five, and by that point "cultural bias had already taken hold".
What exactly did the family mean by "cultural bias"?
It's "comprehensive", Adam responded. "The way you eat, the manner you speak".
He stated the elder child had adopted "very nuanced, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had assumed their cultural norms. The family explained to the consultant they did not want this pattern to happen again with their infant.
The strategy: To bring in a British tutor, who must speak with Received Pronunciation, to guide the baby from day one.
Natural Absorption
"A lot of the education at the outset here is kind of absorbed naturally," explained the CEO.
It's via this natural absorption that the family are expecting the child will acquire the UK customs they wish to cultivate.
The consultant noted the tutor needed to be an individual who attended "the appropriate educational institutions – the same kinds of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The tutor simply needs to be the right kind of person, they'll be performing things they may not realize they're doing, effortlessly," he commented.
Cost Not Relevant
The family told the expert the selected educator should ideally also have familiarity of or interest in horse riding, winter sports, creative fields and musical activities so as to shape the child in a wide range of interests.
Furthermore though, he stated the family desired the tutor to enrol the child on a selection of classes so the child would be "equestrian training and learning an instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's view, helping their son develop into a "English gentleman" will bring about accomplishment and create opportunities.
"For all the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's undoubtedly a social class indicator," he comments.
Yet, notwithstanding all this instruction in "UK identity", could the child pick up alleged cultural bias from the multicultural family he lives with in any case?
"Absolutely", replied he. "They understand this could fail, but they've just taken the view of, 'we should try and we should start as quickly as we can', because the cost of it is not relevant," he stated.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
Several in the private teaching field who express these doubts.
Another CEO, CEO and founder of a tutoring service, who also offer private tutors, stated that "the journey of adopting dual cultures, or actually, becoming oneself, is something that must be lived into, not engineered."
The expert wrote that he had relocated from Asia to the Britain at the age of childhood, and had been raised experiencing and practicing both cultures. He went on to learn at the University of Cambridge.
"The idea that one individual can serve as a embodiment of English culture, someone who can somehow impart the attributes of a British gentleman upon a one-year-old child, appears optimistic and impractical," he stated.
"In my experience, having a quintessentially British tutor from infancy will does not automatically produce the outcome they desire.
"I did not have that kind of mentor, and however I have been privileged enough to experience numerous of the opportunities they desire for their son."
He added: "The reality is, self-identity should not be dictated from the external environment; it must be embraced, and it must come from within."
Acquiring Englishness
Naturally, English culture is something the CEO thinks can be instructed – and sold.
"I think the fact that the international society views us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
