"A household based in north London is looking for an remarkable and experienced tutor to guide their most junior child on his early path to becoming an English gentleman."
Looking at this listing, you might naturally overlook the phrase "initial stages" as mere a turn of phrase.
Yet, it might be the crucial aspect of this unusual position posting, as it attempts to recruit a mentor for a one-year-old.
Hundreds of submissions have since been submitted since the anonymous family published their search for the highly paid tutor, who must be "an exceptional individual".
Over the last few weeks, the listing has gained attention throughout the media, with many wondering why?
Innovative Idea
The CEO, chief executive of a global tutoring firm, which is helping the family in their search, said that in spite of initial doubt, he viewed the concept "visionary", and "advanced".
When he met the family, he noted they recognized the atypical nature of their requirement, and how early in age their son is.
But, they clarified that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had postponed until their elder sibling was five, and by that stage "cultural conditioning had already set in".
But what did the family refer to by "cultural leaning"?
It's "all-encompassing", he replied. "How you eat, how you speak".
He explained the older sibling had picked up "extremely delicate, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had assumed their cultural ways. The family informed him they did not want history to repeat itself with their younger child.
The strategy: To engage a English tutor, who needs to speak with Received Pronunciation, to guide the baby from day one.
Natural Absorption
"A lot of the education at the start here is kind of acquired indirectly," explained the CEO.
It's via this osmosis that the family are hoping the child will acquire the British traits they want to cultivate.
Adam said the tutor must be somebody who attended "prestigious academies – the same kinds of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The tutor must be the suitable individual, they'll be performing things they may not realize they're doing, effortlessly," he said.
Expense Not a Factor
The family told Adam the selected educator should ideally also have knowledge of or passion in horse riding, winter sports, creative fields and instrumental training so as to inspire the child in a wide range of hobbies.
Additionally though, he stated the family wanted the tutor to sign up the child on a variety of classes so the child would be "horseback riding and starting an musical instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's perspective, assisting their son develop into a "UK sophisticate" will lead to achievement and create opportunities.
"Taking into account the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's certainly a status symbol," he adds.
But, notwithstanding all this instruction in "UK identity", would the child absorb what is termed cultural bias from the globally influenced family he lives with regardless?
"Yes", said the CEO. "The parents understand this may not work, but they've merely embraced the view of, 'why not attempt it and we'll proceed as quickly as we can', because the cost of it is not a concern," he said.
Overly Optimistic
Several in the tutoring industry who have similar doubts.
Another CEO, chief executive of Blue Education, who also offer private tutors, stated that "the development of adopting dual cultures, or indeed, forming one's identity, is something that must be lived into, not designed."
He wrote that he had emigrated from Asia to the Britain at the age of childhood, and had been educated experiencing and practicing both cultures. He continued to study at the University of Cambridge.
"The idea that a single person can function as a representation of English culture, a person who can in some way transplant the qualities of a UK sophisticate onto a infant child, strikes me as idealistic and unfeasible," he stated.
"In my experience, engaging a typically English tutor from infancy will will not necessarily produce the outcome they hope for.
"I did not have such a figure, and yet I have been lucky enough to live several of the opportunities they desire for their son."
He continued: "The truth is, personal identity cannot be forced from the external environment; it must be embraced, and it must be internally driven."
Purchasing UK Culture
Naturally, Britishness is something the expert thinks can be educated – and marketed.
"I think the fact that the global community holds us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
