"A family residing in the northern part of London seeks an exceptional and qualified instructor to guide their youngest child on his first steps to turning into an English gentleman."
When reading this advertisement, you might readily skip the term "initial stages" as simple an expression.
However, it might be the most important element of this unusual employment listing, as it seeks to hire a tutor for a infant.
Hundreds of responses have now been sent in since the unnamed family posted their search for the highly paid tutor, who needs to be "someone very special".
During the past few weeks, the listing has gained attention throughout the news, with numerous asking why?
Forward-Thinking Method
The CEO, chief executive of a global tutoring firm, which is supporting the family in their search, stated that in spite of initial scepticism, he found the idea "far sighted", and "innovative".
When he spoke with 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 "didn't want to wait any longer" to get a tutor, as they had postponed until their elder sibling was five, and by that stage "cultural conditioning had already set in".
What precisely does the family mean by "cultural leaning"?
It's "all-encompassing", Adam answered. "How you eat, how you speak".
He said the elder child had adopted "very nuanced, unspoken signals" from the family, and had taken on their cultural habits. The family explained to him they wished to avoid history to repeat itself with their infant.
The plan: To engage a British tutor, who should speak with standard English accent, to guide the baby from the very start.
Subtle Influence
"Much of the development at the outset here is rather acquired indirectly," said the CEO.
It's through this natural absorption that the family are expecting the child will adopt the British traits they wish to instil.
The consultant explained the tutor needed to be someone who studied at "the right kinds of schools – comparable categories of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The tutor must be the right kind of person, they'll be doing things they don't even know they're doing, simply by nature," he added.
Expense Not a Factor
The family told the expert the chosen tutor should preferably also have familiarity of or passion in horse riding, winter sports, creative fields and musical activities so as to influence the child in a diverse set of interests.
Additionally though, he explained the family hoped the tutor to register the child on a selection of lessons so the child would be "horseback riding and learning an instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's perspective, helping their son grow into a "British gentleman" will lead to achievement and provide access.
"Considering the pros and cons of that, because it's definitely a class statement," he comments.
However, despite all this tutelage in "English culture", could the child adopt so-called cultural bias from the globally influenced family he lives with in any case?
"Yes", replied he. "The parents realize this may not work, but they've just taken the view of, 'why not attempt it and we should start as soon as we can', because the price of it is not relevant," he said.
Overly Optimistic
There are some in the private teaching field who have similar reservations.
Another CEO, CEO and founder of Blue Education, who provides private tutors, wrote that "the process of becoming bicultural, or indeed, forming one's identity, is something that must be lived into, not engineered."
He wrote that he had relocated from the Far East to the Britain at the time of childhood, and had been brought up experiencing and embodying dual heritages. He progressed to learn at Cambridge University.
"The idea that an individual can act as a living vessel of UK identity, someone who can in some way transfer the qualities of a British gentleman upon a infant child, seems to me idealistic and unfeasible," he wrote.
"From my perspective, having a distinctly British tutor from infancy will will not necessarily achieve the goal they hope for.
"I wasn't provided with such a tutor, and nevertheless I have been lucky enough to live several of the situations they desire for their son."
He continued: "The reality is, personal identity can not be imposed from the outside; it must be chosen, and it must be internally driven."
Acquiring Englishness
Certainly, Britishness is something the CEO believes can be educated – and sold.
"I think the reality that the world holds us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
