"A family based in North London is looking for an exceptional and qualified educator to support their smallest child on his initial journey to becoming an British gentleman."
Looking at this post, you might naturally skip the term "initial stages" as just a turn of phrase.
Yet, it could be the most important part of this distinctive job advert, as it attempts to recruit a tutor for a infant.
Numerous of submissions have since been received since the unidentified family posted their search for the highly paid tutor, who needs to be "someone very special".
In recent few weeks, the listing has gained attention in the media, with several questioning why?
Innovative Idea
A tutoring expert, CEO and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is supporting the family in their quest, explained that notwithstanding early doubt, he found the plan "visionary", and "innovative".
When he met the family, he mentioned they appreciated the unusual nature of their demand, and how young their son is.
Nevertheless, they stated that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had postponed until their elder sibling was five, and by that age "cultural influence had already become established".
But what does the family mean by "cultural leaning"?
It's "comprehensive", the expert answered. "The manner you eat, the manner you speak".
He said the older sibling had adopted "extremely delicate, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had assumed their cultural norms. The family told the consultant they wished to avoid the same situation to repeat itself with their infant.
The strategy: To bring in a UK tutor, who needs to speak with Received Pronunciation, to guide the baby right from the beginning.
Osmotic Learning
"A lot of the development at the outset here is kind of acquired indirectly," stated the expert.
It's via this osmosis that the family are aiming the child will adopt the British traits they want to impart.
He noted the tutor had to be an individual who went to "the right kinds of schools – similar types of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The educator must be the suitable individual, they'll be doing things they aren't even aware they're doing, just naturally," he said.
Money No Object
The family told the expert the selected educator should ideally also have knowledge of or enthusiasm in equestrian activities, skiing, artistic pursuits and musical activities so as to influence the child in a broad spectrum of passions.
Additionally though, he explained the family hoped the tutor to register the child on a range of lessons so the child would be "equestrian training and learning an instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's view, helping their son grow into a "UK sophisticate" will result in accomplishment and open doors.
"Taking into account the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's definitely a social class indicator," he comments.
But, despite all this tutelage in "UK identity", would the child pick up so-called cultural influence from the international family he lives with in any case?
"Yes", answered Adam. "The parents realize this could fail, but they've simply adopted the perspective of, 'why not attempt it and we should start as quickly as we can', because the price of it is irrelevant," he stated.
Impractical
Several in the tutoring industry who have similar reservations.
Peter Cui, CEO and founder of an educational organization, who also offer individual instructors, stated that "the journey of embracing two identities, or indeed, forming one's identity, is something that must be grown into, not designed."
The expert wrote that he had relocated from China to the United Kingdom at the time of 7 years old, and had been brought up experiencing and living both cultures. He went on to learn at Cambridge University.
"The idea that an individual can function as a representation of Britishness, a person who can possibly transfer the qualities of a British gentleman to a one-year-old child, appears optimistic and impractical," he wrote.
"From my perspective, engaging a distinctly English tutor from infancy will not instantly achieve the outcome they hope for.
"I wasn't provided with such a tutor, and yet I have been privileged enough to enjoy many of the situations they desire for their son."
He stated: "The fact is, self-identity cannot be imposed from the external environment; it must be selected, and it must come from within."
Acquiring Englishness
Certainly, English culture is something the CEO hopes can be educated – and commercialized.
"In my view the situation that the international society views us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
