"A household based in North London seeks an extraordinary and qualified educator to assist their youngest child on his early path to growing into an British gentleman."
Upon seeing this post, you might easily overlook the wording "initial stages" as mere a turn of phrase.
However, it could be the most important element of this unique job advert, as it seeks to find a tutor for a 12-month-old.
Hundreds of applications have already been received since the anonymous family published their call for the £180,000 per year tutor, who has to be "someone very special".
During the past few weeks, the post has received attention across the press, with numerous wondering why?
Innovative Idea
The CEO, CEO and founder of Tutors International, which is assisting the family in their search, explained that despite first doubt, he considered the plan "visionary", and "innovative".
When he spoke with the family, he mentioned they appreciated the atypical character of their request, and how early in age their son is.
Nevertheless, they explained that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had waited until their firstborn was five, and by that point "cultural influence had already become established".
But what did the family mean by "cultural bias"?
It's "everything", he answered. "The way you eat, how you speak".
He stated the elder child had adopted "extremely delicate, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had assumed their cultural norms. The family explained to him they did not want history to recur with their infant.
The plan: To engage a UK tutor, who should speak with standard English accent, to guide the baby from the very start.
Osmotic Learning
"A great deal of the development at the beginning here is somewhat osmotic," stated Adam.
It's by means of this natural absorption that the family are expecting the child will adopt the British traits they want to instil.
Adam explained the tutor had to be somebody who studied at "the right kinds of schools – similar types of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The instructor just has to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be doing things they don't even know they're doing, simply by nature," he said.
Expense Not a Factor
The family told him the chosen tutor should ideally also have familiarity of or passion in riding, winter sports, the arts and instrumental training so as to inspire the child in a diverse set of passions.
More than that though, he stated the family wanted the tutor to sign up the child on a selection of lessons so the child would be "equestrian training and learning an instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's minds, guiding their son become a "UK sophisticate" will bring about accomplishment and create opportunities.
"For all the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's undoubtedly a social class indicator," he notes.
But, despite all this tutelage in "Britishness", might the child absorb alleged cultural leaning from the multicultural family he is raised by in any case?
"Yes", answered he. "The family realize this could fail, but they've merely embraced the attitude of, 'let's give it a go and we'll proceed as quickly as we can', because the price of it is irrelevant," he said.
Overly Optimistic
A number of in the private teaching field who express these concerns.
Peter Cui, chief executive of an educational organization, who supplies private tutors, wrote that "the development of adopting dual cultures, or actually, forming one's identity, is something that must be grown into, not engineered."
The expert wrote that he had relocated from Asia to the Britain at the period of childhood, and had been raised experiencing and living both cultures. He went on to be educated at Cambridge University.
"The idea that an individual can function as a living vessel of Britishness, an individual who can somehow impart the qualities of a English gentleman upon a one-year-old child, appears idealistic and unfeasible," he commented.
"Based on my background, employing a typically English tutor from early childhood will not instantly achieve the outcome they hope for.
"I did not have such a figure, and nevertheless I have been lucky enough to enjoy several of the experiences they hope for their son."
He continued: "The fact is, self-identity cannot be imposed from the external environment; it must be embraced, and it must originate internally."
Purchasing UK Culture
Of course, UK identity is something Adam hopes can be taught – and marketed.
"In my view the fact that the global community regards us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
