"Parents based in the northern part of London wants to find an remarkable and qualified tutor to support their smallest child on his initial journey to becoming an English gentleman."
Upon seeing this advertisement, you might naturally skip the phrase "initial stages" as just figurative language.
However, it may be the crucial part of this distinctive position posting, as it attempts to hire a mentor for a one-year-old.
Hundreds of responses have since been received since the unnamed family advertised their request for the £180,000 per year tutor, who has to be "a uniquely qualified person".
Over the last few weeks, the post has gained interest across the news, with numerous wondering why?
Forward-Thinking Method
A tutoring expert, CEO and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is helping the family in their hunt, stated that despite initial doubt, he viewed the idea "forward-looking", and "advanced".
When he spoke with the family, he mentioned they understood the atypical character of their requirement, and how early in age their son is.
However, they stated that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had held off until their firstborn was five, and by that point "cultural influence had by then taken hold".
What precisely did the family mean by "cultural leaning"?
It's "everything", the expert responded. "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 taken on their cultural norms. The family explained to him they wished to avoid this pattern to repeat itself with their infant.
The intention: To engage a English tutor, who should speak with standard English accent, to shape the baby right from the beginning.
Subtle Influence
"Much of the development at the beginning here is kind of absorbed naturally," stated Adam.
It's via this subtle influence that the family are expecting the child will acquire the English characteristics they aim to cultivate.
Adam explained the tutor had to be somebody who studied at "the right kinds of schools – similar types of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The educator simply needs to be the right kind of person, they'll be performing things they may not realize they're doing, simply by nature," he commented.
Money No Object
The family explained to the expert the chosen tutor should ideally also have understanding of or enthusiasm in equestrian activities, alpine skiing, the arts and instrumental training so as to influence the child in a broad spectrum of hobbies.
Furthermore though, he said the family wanted the tutor to sign up the child on a range of courses so the child would be "pony-riding and picking up an instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's view, helping their son grow into a "UK sophisticate" will bring about accomplishment and provide access.
"Considering the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's certainly a status symbol," he notes.
Yet, despite all this tutelage in "UK identity", would the child absorb alleged cultural influence from the globally influenced family he is raised by regardless?
"Yes", replied he. "The family know this might not succeed, but they've just taken the perspective of, 'let's give it a go and we'll proceed as quickly as we can', because the price of it is not a concern," he said.
Overly Optimistic
Several in the private teaching field who express similar reservations.
Another CEO, chief executive of Blue Education, who supplies individual instructors, wrote that "the development of becoming bicultural, or actually, becoming oneself, is something that must be lived into, not designed."
The expert wrote that he had moved from Asia to the Britain at the age of seven, and had been raised understanding and practicing both cultures. He progressed to study at Cambridge University.
"The idea that one individual can act as a embodiment of Britishness, someone who can somehow transplant the qualities of a British gentleman onto a infant child, seems to me optimistic and unrealistic," he stated.
"From my perspective, engaging a distinctly British tutor from infancy will does not automatically achieve the result they hope for.
"I wasn't provided with such a tutor, and nevertheless I have been lucky enough to experience many of the situations they hope for their son."
He stated: "The truth is, self-identity cannot be imposed from the outside; it must be selected, and it must come from within."
Acquiring Englishness
Of course, Britishness is something the CEO believes can be instructed – and sold.
"In my view the reality that the global community holds us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
