"A family residing in north London wants to find an exceptional and skilled tutor to guide their youngest child on his early path to turning into an English gentleman."
Upon seeing this post, you might easily skip the phrase "initial stages" as just an expression.
But, it could be the crucial part of this distinctive job advert, as it aims to recruit a mentor for a infant.
Hundreds of responses have now been sent in since the unnamed family advertised their search for the highly paid tutor, who has to be "someone very special".
In recent few weeks, the post has received notice across the press, with numerous wondering why?
Progressive Approach
Adam Caller, chief executive of a global tutoring firm, which is supporting the family in their search, said that despite first doubt, he viewed the concept "visionary", and "advanced".
When he spoke with the family, he mentioned they appreciated the unconventional aspect of their demand, and how immature their son is.
However, they explained that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had waited until their older child was five, and by that age "cultural influence had already taken hold".
What precisely did the family refer to by "cultural bias"?
It's "all-encompassing", the expert answered. "How you eat, the way you speak".
He stated the elder child had adopted "really subtle, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had assumed their cultural habits. The family told Adam they did not want history to repeat itself with their younger child.
The strategy: To bring in a British tutor, who should speak with Received Pronunciation, to shape the baby from day one.
Osmotic Learning
"A great deal of the education at the beginning here is rather acquired indirectly," said the expert.
It's through this subtle influence that the family are aiming the child will acquire the UK customs they want to impart.
He noted the tutor needed to be someone who attended "prestigious academies – similar types of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The instructor simply needs to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be carrying out things they don't even know they're doing, simply by nature," he added.
Expense Not a Factor
The family explained to him the successful candidate should preferably also have familiarity of or passion in equestrian activities, alpine skiing, artistic pursuits and instrumental training so as to influence the child in a broad spectrum of interests.
More than that though, he said the family wanted the tutor to register the child on a range of lessons so the child would be "equestrian training and learning an musical instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's perspective, guiding their son become a "UK sophisticate" will bring about achievement and open doors.
"Taking into account the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's undoubtedly a status symbol," he adds.
But, notwithstanding all this instruction in "UK identity", could the child absorb so-called cultural bias from the multicultural family he lives with anyway?
"Yes", replied he. "The family know this may not work, but they've just taken the attitude of, 'we should try and we should start as quickly as we can', because the price of it is not relevant," he said.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
A number of in the tutoring industry who express similar concerns.
Another CEO, CEO and founder of a tutoring service, who provides individual instructors, wrote that "the process of adopting dual cultures, or indeed, forming one's identity, is something that must be experienced personally, not manufactured."
He noted that he had emigrated from the Far East to the United Kingdom at the time of 7 years old, and had been raised experiencing and practicing both cultures. He progressed to learn at the University of Cambridge.
"The notion that an individual can function as a representation of Britishness, someone who can somehow transfer the qualities of a British gentleman onto a one-year-old child, appears naive and unfeasible," he wrote.
"In my experience, engaging a quintessentially English tutor from infancy will not necessarily achieve the goal they desire.
"I never had such a tutor, and yet I have been lucky enough to enjoy many of the situations they hope for their son."
He stated: "The truth is, self-identity should not be dictated from the external environment; it must be embraced, and it must come from within."
Buying Britishness
Of course, Britishness is something Adam believes can be educated – and sold.
"I think the fact that the global community views us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
