"A household located in north London is looking for an extraordinary and skilled educator to guide their most junior child on his early path to turning into an British gentleman."
Upon seeing this post, you might naturally skip the term "initial stages" as just an expression.
But, it may be the crucial aspect of this unusual employment listing, as it aims to recruit a teacher for a one-year-old.
Hundreds of applications have now been received since the anonymous family advertised their search for the £180,000 per year tutor, who needs to be "a uniquely qualified person".
Over the last few weeks, the listing has received notice in the press, with numerous questioning why?
Progressive Approach
A tutoring expert, CEO and founder of an education consultancy, which is helping the family in their hunt, explained that notwithstanding first scepticism, he viewed the concept "forward-looking", and "innovative".
When he consulted the family, he noted they appreciated the atypical nature of their requirement, and how early in age their son is.
Nevertheless, they explained that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had waited until their firstborn was five, and by that age "cultural influence had by then become established".
What precisely does the family indicate by "cultural leaning"?
It's "all-encompassing", he answered. "How you eat, the way you speak".
He said the elder child had absorbed "really subtle, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had adopted their cultural ways. The family told the consultant they wished to avoid history to repeat itself with their new baby.
The intention: To bring in a UK tutor, who should speak with standard English accent, to guide the baby from day one.
Osmotic Learning
"A great deal of the learning at the start here is kind of acquired indirectly," explained the CEO.
It's through this osmosis that the family are aiming the child will adopt the UK customs they want to instil.
Adam explained the tutor had to be an individual who studied at "the right kinds of schools – similar types of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The educator must be the right kind of person, they'll be performing things they aren't even aware they're doing, just naturally," he commented.
Expense Not a Factor
The family explained to Adam the chosen tutor should ideally also have knowledge of or passion in equestrian activities, alpine skiing, the arts and music so as to shape the child in a broad spectrum of interests.
Furthermore though, he stated the family hoped the tutor to sign up the child on a variety of classes so the child would be "pony-riding and learning an musical instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's minds, guiding their son develop into a "English gentleman" will result in achievement and provide access.
"Considering the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's undoubtedly a social class indicator," he comments.
Yet, despite all this instruction in "Britishness", would the child pick up alleged cultural leaning from the globally influenced family he resides with in any case?
"Yes", answered he. "The parents understand this may not work, but they've just taken the perspective of, 'why not attempt it and let's go as soon as we can', because the expense of it is not a concern," he explained.
Overly Optimistic
There are some in the education sector who share those reservations.
Another CEO, head and founder of a tutoring service, who also offer personal educators, wrote that "the development of embracing two identities, or in fact, discovering oneself, is something that must be grown into, not manufactured."
He wrote that he had emigrated from China to the United Kingdom at the age of 7 years old, and had been educated knowing and embodying dual heritages. He went on to learn at the University of Cambridge.
"The notion that one individual can function as a representation of UK identity, an individual who can in some way transfer the characteristics of a UK sophisticate to a 12-month-old child, strikes me as optimistic and unfeasible," he commented.
"From my perspective, having a typically UK tutor from infancy will does not automatically produce the goal they desire.
"I did not have such a figure, and however I have been lucky enough to experience many of the opportunities they aspire for their son."
He continued: "The fact is, personal identity should not be forced from the external environment; it must be chosen, and it must originate internally."
Acquiring Englishness
Certainly, UK identity is something Adam hopes can be instructed – and commercialized.
"I believe the reality that the world regards us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
