"Parents residing in north London is looking for an extraordinary and skilled instructor to support their smallest child on his early path to becoming an English gentleman."
Looking at this listing, you might readily miss the term "initial stages" as just an expression.
Yet, it may be the crucial aspect of this unique job advert, as it attempts to find a mentor for a infant.
Hundreds of submissions have now been sent in since the unidentified family posted their call for the highly paid tutor, who has to be "someone very special".
In recent few weeks, the listing has attracted interest across the news, with many wondering why?
Innovative Idea
The CEO, head and founder of an education consultancy, which is supporting the family in their hunt, stated that notwithstanding first scepticism, he found the idea "far sighted", and "progressive".
When he spoke with the family, he noted they recognized the unusual nature 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 waited until their elder sibling was five, and by that age "cultural bias had already taken hold".
What exactly does the family refer to by "cultural leaning"?
It's "all-encompassing", he replied. "How you eat, the way you speak".
He explained the older sibling had picked up "very nuanced, unspoken signals" from the family, and had adopted their cultural norms. The family informed him they wished to avoid the same situation to repeat itself with their new baby.
The intention: To hire a English tutor, who must speak with Received Pronunciation, to shape the baby right from the beginning.
Subtle Influence
"Much of the development at the outset here is rather osmotic," said the expert.
It's via this natural absorption that the family are hoping the child will pick up the British traits they aim to instil.
Adam said the tutor had to be an individual who studied at "the right kinds of schools – comparable categories of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The educator simply needs to be the right kind of person, 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 told Adam the chosen tutor should ideally also have knowledge of or interest in horse riding, skiing, artistic pursuits and musical activities so as to shape the child in a wide range of interests.
Furthermore though, he stated the family wanted the tutor to enrol the child on a variety of lessons so the child would be "pony-riding and picking up an musical instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's view, assisting their son become a "British gentleman" will bring about achievement and open doors.
"For all the pros and cons of that, because it's certainly a class statement," he adds.
But, in spite of all this instruction in "English culture", could the child pick up so-called cultural leaning from the international family he resides with in any case?
"Certainly", said the CEO. "They understand this could fail, but they've just taken the view of, 'let's give it a go and let's go as quickly as we can', because the expense of it is not relevant," he explained.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
A number of in the private teaching field who express these concerns.
Another CEO, CEO and founder of a tutoring service, who supplies private tutors, wrote that "the process of adopting dual cultures, or in fact, becoming oneself, is something that must be grown into, not engineered."
Peter wrote that he had relocated from China to the Britain at the time of seven, and had been raised understanding and practicing both cultures. He went on to study at the University of Cambridge.
"The concept that a single person can function as a living vessel of UK identity, someone who can in some way impart the qualities of a UK sophisticate onto a one-year-old child, strikes me as optimistic and impractical," he commented.
"In my experience, employing a distinctly English tutor from early childhood will will not automatically produce the outcome they hope for.
"I never had such a tutor, and nevertheless I have been lucky enough to experience numerous of the experiences they hope for their son."
He continued: "The reality is, self-identity cannot be forced from the external environment; it must be selected, and it must come from within."
Purchasing UK Culture
Certainly, Britishness is something the CEO believes can be taught – and marketed.
"I think the situation that the international society holds us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
