"Parents residing in north London is looking for an remarkable and experienced tutor to support their youngest child on his early path to growing into an English gentleman."
Looking at this listing, you might naturally skip the term "initial stages" as just an expression.
However, it might be the crucial aspect of this unique employment listing, as it seeks to hire a mentor for a 12-month-old.
Hundreds of applications have now been received since the unnamed family posted their search for the £180k-a-year tutor, who needs to be "an exceptional individual".
During the past few weeks, the post has attracted interest in the press, with numerous wondering why?
Progressive Approach
Adam Caller, chief executive of an education consultancy, which is assisting the family in their search, said that despite first doubt, he viewed the concept "forward-looking", and "innovative".
When he consulted the family, he said they recognized the unconventional aspect of their request, and how young their son is.
However, they clarified that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to get a tutor, as they had postponed until their elder sibling was five, and by that point "cultural influence had already taken hold".
What exactly does the family indicate by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "all-encompassing", Adam answered. "How you eat, how you speak".
He stated the older sibling had adopted "very nuanced, unspoken signals" from the family, and had adopted their cultural ways. The family informed him they did not want this pattern to repeat itself with their new baby.
The strategy: To engage a British tutor, who needs to speak with RP, to shape the baby from the very start.
Osmotic Learning
"A lot of the education at the start here is rather absorbed naturally," stated the CEO.
It's by means of this natural absorption that the family are aiming the child will adopt the British traits they wish to instil.
The consultant noted the tutor must be an individual who attended "the right kinds of schools – similar types of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The tutor simply needs to be the suitable individual, they'll be performing things they may not realize they're doing, just naturally," he added.
Expense Not a Factor
The family told the expert the chosen tutor should preferably also have understanding of or interest in riding, skiing, the arts and musical activities so as to shape the child in a diverse set of interests.
Furthermore though, he said the family hoped the tutor to sign up the child on a selection of lessons so the child would be "horseback riding and starting an musical instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's minds, assisting their son develop into a "English gentleman" will bring about accomplishment and provide access.
"For all the rights and wrongs of that, because it's undoubtedly a status symbol," he notes.
Yet, in spite of all this guidance in "UK identity", could the child absorb alleged cultural leaning from the multicultural family he resides with regardless?
"Absolutely", answered he. "They understand this might not succeed, but they've simply adopted the perspective of, 'why not attempt it and let's go as quickly as we can', because the cost of it is not relevant," he stated.
Impractical
There are some in the tutoring industry who express these concerns.
An education leader, head and founder of a tutoring service, who supplies private tutors, commented that "the development of embracing two identities, or in fact, discovering oneself, is something that must be lived into, not engineered."
He wrote that he had emigrated from Asia to the Britain at the age of childhood, and had been brought up experiencing and living both cultures. He continued to study at the University of Cambridge.
"The concept that an individual can function as a representation of UK identity, a person who can possibly impart the attributes of a English gentleman to a infant child, strikes me as idealistic and unrealistic," he stated.
"From my perspective, employing a typically UK tutor from infancy will will not necessarily achieve the outcome they want.
"I did not have such a figure, and nevertheless I have been fortunate enough to enjoy many of the experiences they hope for their son."
He added: "The reality is, cultural identity can not be forced from the outside influences; it must be selected, and it must originate internally."
Acquiring Englishness
Certainly, UK identity is something Adam thinks can be taught – and marketed.
"In my view the situation that the global community holds us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
