"Parents residing in North London wants to find an remarkable and qualified instructor to assist their most junior child on his first steps to turning into an English gentleman."
Upon seeing this post, you might easily skip the wording "initial stages" as simple figurative language.
However, it may be the crucial aspect of this unique employment listing, as it attempts to recruit a tutor for a infant.
Many of responses have already been submitted since the anonymous family posted their search for the £180,000 per year tutor, who must be "a uniquely qualified person".
Over the last few weeks, the advert has received attention throughout the press, with numerous wondering why?
Innovative Idea
A tutoring expert, CEO and founder of Tutors International, which is supporting the family in their search, said that in spite of first doubt, he viewed the plan "far sighted", and "advanced".
When he spoke with the family, he said they understood the unusual character of their request, and how immature their son is.
But, they clarified that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had postponed until their firstborn was five, and by that stage "cultural conditioning had already become established".
What precisely did the family mean by "cultural bias"?
It's "all-encompassing", Adam replied. "The way you eat, how you speak".
He stated the elder child had absorbed "really subtle, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had taken on their cultural norms. The family explained to the consultant they hoped to prevent the same situation to recur with their infant.
The strategy: To bring in a English tutor, who must speak with standard English accent, to influence the baby from the very start.
Natural Absorption
"A lot of the development at the outset here is kind of absorbed naturally," said the CEO.
It's by means of this natural absorption that the family are expecting the child will adopt the English characteristics they aim to impart.
The consultant explained the tutor had to be an individual who went to "the right kinds of schools – similar types of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The instructor must be the appropriate candidate, they'll be performing things they aren't even aware they're doing, simply by nature," he commented.
Expense Not a Factor
The family explained to him the selected educator should ideally also have understanding of or enthusiasm in riding, skiing, creative fields and musical activities so as to influence the child in a broad spectrum of passions.
Furthermore though, he stated the family hoped the tutor to sign up the child on a range of classes so the child would be "horseback riding and picking up an tool by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's perspective, guiding their son grow into a "UK sophisticate" will result in success and open doors.
"Considering the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's definitely a class statement," he notes.
Yet, notwithstanding all this tutelage in "UK identity", would the child adopt what is termed cultural leaning from the globally influenced family he lives with regardless?
"Yes", replied he. "The family understand this could fail, but they've merely embraced the attitude of, 'let's give it a go and we'll proceed as soon as we can', because the price of it is not relevant," he stated.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
There are some in the tutoring industry who express similar doubts.
Peter Cui, head and founder of a tutoring service, who supplies individual instructors, commented that "the development of becoming bicultural, or indeed, forming one's identity, is something that must be experienced personally, not manufactured."
He explained that he had moved from the Far East to the Britain at the age of childhood, and had been educated understanding and practicing dual heritages. He went on to be educated at Cambridge University.
"The concept that a single person can serve as a representation of UK identity, an individual who can in some way transfer the attributes of a UK sophisticate onto a one-year-old child, strikes me as idealistic and unrealistic," he commented.
"From my perspective, having a typically British tutor from early childhood will will not automatically produce the goal they want.
"I did not have that kind of mentor, and nevertheless I have been lucky enough to enjoy many of the situations they aspire for their son."
He added: "The reality is, cultural identity cannot be dictated from the external environment; it must be selected, and it must come from within."
Buying Britishness
Of course, Britishness is something the expert believes can be taught – and commercialized.
"I think the fact that the global community views us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
