"A family located in north London wants to find an exceptional and skilled educator to assist their smallest child on his initial journey to becoming an British gentleman."
Looking at this post, you might naturally overlook the phrase "initial stages" as simple a turn of phrase.
But, it might be the most important aspect of this distinctive employment listing, as it aims to hire a teacher for a 12-month-old.
Many of responses have already been received since the anonymous family posted their call for the £180k-a-year tutor, who needs to be "a uniquely qualified person".
During the past few weeks, the listing has attracted notice in the news, with several questioning why?
Forward-Thinking Method
Adam Caller, CEO and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is helping the family in their quest, stated that notwithstanding initial doubt, he viewed the idea "far sighted", and "advanced".
When he met the family, he said they recognized the unusual aspect of their demand, and how young their son is.
However, they clarified that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had waited until their firstborn was five, and by that point "cultural bias had by then set in".
What exactly does the family mean by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "everything", he replied. "How you eat, the manner you speak".
He stated the older sibling had picked up "extremely delicate, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had adopted their cultural habits. The family informed the consultant they did not want the same situation to happen again with their new baby.
The strategy: To bring in a British tutor, who must speak with standard English accent, to influence the baby right from the beginning.
Natural Absorption
"Much of the learning at the start here is kind of acquired indirectly," explained the CEO.
It's via this natural absorption that the family are aiming the child will acquire the English characteristics they wish to instil.
The consultant noted the tutor needed to be somebody who studied at "prestigious academies – comparable categories of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The tutor just has to be the right kind of person, they'll be carrying out things they don't even know they're doing, effortlessly," he said.
Expense Not a Factor
The family told Adam the successful candidate should preferably also have knowledge of or passion in horse riding, alpine skiing, artistic pursuits and instrumental training so as to influence the child in a broad spectrum of hobbies.
Furthermore though, he said the family hoped the tutor to sign up the child on a variety of lessons so the child would be "horseback riding and starting an instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's perspective, assisting their son become a "British gentleman" will lead to accomplishment and create opportunities.
"Considering the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's undoubtedly a social class indicator," he comments.
Yet, in spite of all this tutelage in "Britishness", would the child adopt alleged cultural leaning from the multicultural family he is raised by regardless?
"Absolutely", replied the CEO. "They know this may not work, but they've simply adopted the attitude of, 'we should try and we should start as quickly as we can', because the cost of it is not relevant," he said.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
A number of in the private teaching field who have these reservations.
An education leader, head and founder of an educational organization, who provides personal educators, stated that "the process of becoming bicultural, or in fact, forming one's identity, is something that must be experienced personally, not designed."
The expert noted that he had moved from the Far East to the United Kingdom at the period of childhood, and had been educated experiencing and embodying two backgrounds. He went on to study at a prestigious UK institution.
"The idea that a single person can act as a embodiment of Britishness, a person who can somehow transfer the attributes of a UK sophisticate onto a one-year-old child, appears naive and unfeasible," he wrote.
"Based on my background, engaging a distinctly British tutor from babyhood will will not automatically achieve the outcome they want.
"I wasn't provided with that kind of mentor, and yet I have been privileged enough to live several of the experiences they desire for their son."
He stated: "The truth is, cultural identity should not be forced from the external environment; it must be chosen, and it must be internally driven."
Acquiring Englishness
Certainly, English culture is something the expert thinks can be instructed – and commercialized.
"In my view the fact that the global community views us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
