"A household based in north London wants to find an remarkable and qualified tutor to assist their most junior child on his first steps to becoming an British gentleman."
When reading this post, you might readily miss the term "initial stages" as simple a turn of phrase.
But, it might be the most significant part of this unusual employment listing, as it aims to hire a tutor for a 12-month-old.
Many of applications have since been submitted since the anonymous family posted their call for the £180k-a-year tutor, who must be "someone very special".
Over the last few weeks, the listing has gained notice across the news, with numerous questioning why?
Forward-Thinking Method
A tutoring expert, CEO and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is assisting the family in their search, stated that in spite of early skepticism, he viewed the plan "visionary", and "innovative".
When he met the family, he said they understood the unusual aspect of their request, and how immature their son is.
Nevertheless, they explained that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had postponed until their older child was five, and by that point "cultural bias had already set in".
What exactly does the family mean by "cultural leaning"?
It's "all-encompassing", the expert 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 assumed their cultural ways. The family explained to him they did not want this pattern to happen again with their new baby.
The strategy: To hire a British tutor, who needs to speak with RP, to shape the baby right from the beginning.
Osmotic Learning
"Much of the learning at the beginning here is kind of absorbed naturally," stated Adam.
It's through this subtle influence that the family are hoping the child will pick up the UK customs they want to impart.
The consultant noted the tutor must be someone who attended "the appropriate educational institutions – the same kinds of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The tutor must be the suitable individual, they'll be performing things they aren't even aware they're doing, effortlessly," he said.
Money No Object
The family told him the chosen tutor should preferably also have understanding of or passion in equestrian activities, skiing, artistic pursuits and music so as to shape the child in a broad spectrum of interests.
Furthermore though, he stated the family desired the tutor to sign up the child on a variety of courses so the child would be "equestrian training and starting an musical instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's perspective, guiding their son grow into a "British gentleman" will bring about achievement and provide access.
"Taking into account the rights and wrongs of that, because it's undoubtedly a class statement," he adds.
However, despite all this guidance in "Britishness", could the child absorb alleged cultural influence from the globally influenced family he is raised by in any case?
"Certainly", answered Adam. "They realize this could fail, but they've just taken the view of, 'why not attempt it and let's go as quickly as we can', because the price of it is not relevant," he said.
Impractical
A number of in the education sector who share similar doubts.
Another CEO, head and founder of Blue Education, who provides individual instructors, commented that "the development of embracing two identities, or actually, forming one's identity, is something that must be experienced personally, not manufactured."
He wrote that he had moved from China to the UK at the age of childhood, and had been educated understanding and embodying dual heritages. He progressed to be educated at Cambridge University.
"The notion that an individual can function as a living vessel of English culture, a person who can somehow impart the characteristics of a UK sophisticate onto a 12-month-old child, strikes me as optimistic and unrealistic," he wrote.
"From my perspective, having a distinctly UK tutor from early childhood will will not necessarily achieve the outcome they desire.
"I did not have that kind of mentor, and however I have been privileged enough to experience numerous of the experiences they aspire for their son."
He added: "The reality is, personal identity should not be imposed from the external environment; it must be chosen, and it must come from within."
Acquiring Englishness
Naturally, Britishness is something the CEO thinks can be educated – and commercialized.
"I think the reality that the international society regards us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
