"A family based in North London seeks an exceptional and qualified instructor to support their most junior child on his early path to becoming an English gentleman."
When reading this listing, you might readily skip the wording "initial stages" as just an expression.
But, it could be the most important part of this distinctive employment listing, as it aims to find a teacher for a one-year-old.
Hundreds of applications have already been received since the anonymous family posted their request for the £180,000 per year tutor, who has to be "an exceptional individual".
Over the last few weeks, the listing has attracted notice in the media, with numerous questioning why?
Innovative Idea
The CEO, chief executive of a global tutoring firm, which is supporting the family in their hunt, said that in spite of first skepticism, he viewed the concept "visionary", and "progressive".
When he met the family, he said they understood the unconventional aspect of their demand, and how immature their son is.
However, they clarified that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had postponed until their firstborn was five, and by that age "cultural influence had already set in".
What exactly does the family refer to by "cultural bias"?
It's "everything", Adam replied. "How you eat, how you speak".
He said the elder child had picked up "very nuanced, body language" from the family, and had adopted their cultural norms. The family told Adam they did not want this pattern to repeat itself with their infant.
The strategy: To bring in a British tutor, who must speak with RP, to shape the baby from the very start.
Osmotic Learning
"A great deal of the development at the start here is somewhat osmotic," said the CEO.
It's via this natural absorption that the family are hoping the child will pick up the British traits they wish to instil.
Adam noted the tutor needed to be someone who attended "the appropriate educational institutions – comparable categories of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The tutor simply needs to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be doing things they aren't even aware they're doing, just naturally," he added.
Money No Object
The family informed the expert the chosen tutor should ideally also have familiarity of or interest in equestrian activities, alpine skiing, the arts and music so as to shape the child in a broad spectrum of passions.
Additionally though, he stated the family wanted the tutor to enrol the child on a variety of classes so the child would be "equestrian training and starting an musical instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's perspective, helping their son develop into a "British gentleman" will result in achievement and create opportunities.
"For all the pros and cons of that, because it's definitely a class statement," he adds.
However, in spite of all this tutelage in "UK identity", would the child adopt what is termed cultural bias from the globally influenced family he resides with in any case?
"Certainly", answered the CEO. "The family know this may not work, but they've just taken the view of, 'why not attempt it and let's go as early as we can', because the expense of it is irrelevant," he explained.
Overly Optimistic
There are some in the tutoring industry who have similar reservations.
Peter Cui, chief executive of an educational organization, who supplies individual instructors, wrote that "the journey of embracing two identities, or actually, discovering oneself, is something that must be lived into, not engineered."
He wrote that he had moved from China to the UK at the time of seven, and had been brought up knowing and living both cultures. He progressed to study at the University of Cambridge.
"The concept that a single person can serve as a embodiment of UK identity, an individual who can possibly transplant the attributes of a UK sophisticate onto a one-year-old child, seems to me idealistic and unrealistic," he wrote.
"From my perspective, having a distinctly UK tutor from infancy will not instantly produce the outcome they desire.
"I never had such a figure, and yet I have been privileged enough to enjoy numerous of the opportunities they hope for their son."
He stated: "The reality is, personal identity can not be forced from the outside; it must be selected, and it must come from within."
Purchasing UK Culture
Of course, English culture is something Adam thinks can be instructed – and sold.
"In my view the reality that the global community holds us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
