"A household located in the northern part of London is looking for an exceptional and skilled educator to assist their most junior child on his first steps to becoming an British gentleman."
Looking at this advertisement, you might naturally skip the term "initial stages" as mere a turn of phrase.
Yet, it may be the crucial part of this distinctive job advert, as it aims to recruit a tutor for a one-year-old.
Many of responses have now been submitted since the unnamed family posted their search for the highly paid tutor, who must be "an exceptional individual".
Over the last few weeks, the advert has gained attention in the press, with numerous asking why?
Forward-Thinking Method
The CEO, chief executive of a global tutoring firm, which is helping the family in their search, stated that in spite of early skepticism, he found the idea "visionary", and "progressive".
When he consulted the family, he noted they understood the unusual aspect of their requirement, and how young their son is.
However, they explained that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to get a tutor, as they had held off until their firstborn was five, and by that age "cultural bias had already set in".
What exactly does the family refer to by "cultural leaning"?
It's "everything", Adam replied. "The manner you eat, how you speak".
He said the firstborn had absorbed "extremely delicate, body language" from the family, and had adopted their cultural norms. The family explained to him they did not want history to repeat itself with their younger child.
The strategy: To bring in a English tutor, who must speak with Received Pronunciation, to guide the baby from day one.
Natural Absorption
"A lot of the development at the outset here is somewhat acquired indirectly," explained Adam.
It's through this subtle influence that the family are aiming the child will adopt the UK customs they aim to impart.
The consultant explained the tutor must be an individual who went to "the appropriate educational institutions – comparable categories of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The instructor must be the appropriate candidate, 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 selected educator should ideally also have familiarity of or interest in equestrian activities, winter sports, creative fields and musical activities so as to influence the child in a wide range of hobbies.
More than that though, he said the family hoped the tutor to sign up the child on a range of classes so the child would be "pony-riding and starting an musical instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's view, assisting their son develop into a "British gentleman" will bring about achievement and open doors.
"For all the pros and cons of that, because it's definitely a class statement," he notes.
However, notwithstanding all this guidance in "Britishness", would the child absorb alleged cultural leaning from the globally influenced family he resides with in any case?
"Yes", answered he. "The family know this may not work, but they've just taken the perspective of, 'we should try and we'll proceed as soon as we can', because the price of it is irrelevant," he stated.
Overly Optimistic
There are some in the private teaching field who have those concerns.
Peter Cui, CEO and founder of an educational organization, who provides individual instructors, commented that "the process of becoming bicultural, or in fact, becoming oneself, is something that must be grown into, not manufactured."
The expert noted that he had relocated from Asia to the United Kingdom at the time of seven, and had been educated experiencing and practicing both cultures. He continued to study at Cambridge University.
"The notion that a single person can act as a representation of Britishness, a person who can in some way impart the characteristics of a English gentleman onto a 12-month-old child, strikes me as idealistic and impractical," he commented.
"In my experience, having a typically UK tutor from infancy will not instantly produce the result they hope for.
"I never had that kind of mentor, and however I have been lucky enough to enjoy many of the opportunities they aspire for their son."
He added: "The fact is, cultural identity can not be forced from the outside; it must be chosen, and it must originate internally."
Acquiring Englishness
Of course, English culture is something the expert believes can be taught – and marketed.
"I believe the reality that the world regards us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
