"Parents located in north London is looking for an exceptional and skilled tutor to assist their most junior child on his first steps to growing into an British gentleman."
When reading this listing, you might readily skip the phrase "initial stages" as just figurative language.
However, it might be the most important element of this unique position posting, as it attempts to recruit a teacher for a 12-month-old.
Hundreds of submissions have already been received since the unidentified family published their search for the highly paid tutor, who has to be "an exceptional individual".
In recent few weeks, the advert has gained interest in the press, with several wondering why?
Forward-Thinking Method
A tutoring expert, head and founder of Tutors International, which is helping the family in their search, stated that in spite of first skepticism, he considered the idea "far sighted", and "advanced".
When he spoke with the family, he said they appreciated the unconventional nature of their requirement, and how young their son is.
However, they explained that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had waited until their firstborn was five, and by that age "cultural bias had by then taken hold".
What precisely does the family indicate by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "comprehensive", Adam replied. "How you eat, how you speak".
He stated the elder child had picked up "extremely delicate, body language" from the family, and had assumed their cultural habits. The family told the consultant they did not want this pattern to repeat itself with their younger child.
The strategy: To bring in a UK tutor, who must speak with Received Pronunciation, to shape the baby from the very start.
Subtle Influence
"A lot of the learning at the beginning here is rather acquired indirectly," stated the expert.
It's by means of this natural absorption that the family are hoping the child will pick up the British traits they wish to cultivate.
He explained the tutor needed to be an individual who studied at "the appropriate educational institutions – the same kinds of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The educator must be the appropriate candidate, they'll be carrying out things they don't even know they're doing, just naturally," he said.
Cost Not Relevant
The family explained to Adam the chosen tutor should ideally also have familiarity of or interest in equestrian activities, skiing, artistic pursuits and instrumental training so as to influence the child in a wide range of interests.
Additionally though, he said the family wanted the tutor to sign up the child on a selection of classes so the child would be "pony-riding and picking up an musical instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's perspective, assisting their son become a "British gentleman" will bring about achievement and create opportunities.
"For all the pros and cons of that, because it's certainly a status symbol," he comments.
But, notwithstanding all this tutelage in "UK identity", would the child pick up so-called cultural influence from the multicultural family he is raised by anyway?
"Certainly", answered Adam. "They know this could fail, but they've merely embraced the perspective of, 'we should try and we should start as early as we can', because the cost of it is irrelevant," he explained.
Overly Optimistic
Several in the tutoring industry who share similar doubts.
Another CEO, chief executive of Blue Education, who provides private tutors, wrote that "the journey of adopting dual cultures, or actually, discovering oneself, is something that must be lived into, not designed."
He noted that he had relocated from the Far East to the UK at the time of seven, and had been brought up understanding and living two backgrounds. He continued to learn at Cambridge University.
"The concept that a single person can serve as a embodiment of English culture, someone who can somehow impart the qualities of a UK sophisticate to a 12-month-old child, seems to me naive and unfeasible," he stated.
"In my experience, employing a distinctly English tutor from babyhood will will not necessarily achieve the goal they desire.
"I never had such a figure, and however I have been fortunate enough to enjoy numerous of the experiences they aspire for their son."
He stated: "The truth is, cultural identity should not be dictated from the external environment; it must be selected, and it must come from within."
Purchasing UK Culture
Certainly, UK identity is something Adam hopes can be educated – and commercialized.
"In my view the situation that the global community holds us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
