"A household residing in North London is looking for an exceptional and experienced tutor to support their most junior child on his first steps to growing into an English gentleman."
Looking at this listing, you might easily overlook the term "initial stages" as simple an expression.
However, it may be the crucial part of this distinctive job advert, as it seeks to find a teacher for a infant.
Many of applications have already been received since the anonymous family posted their search for the highly paid tutor, who needs to be "a uniquely qualified person".
Over the last few weeks, the listing has gained attention throughout the media, with numerous questioning why?
Progressive Approach
Adam Caller, chief executive of an education consultancy, which is assisting the family in their search, said that notwithstanding early scepticism, he considered the plan "far sighted", and "advanced".
When he met the family, he mentioned they understood the unconventional nature of their request, and how immature their son is.
Nevertheless, they stated that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to get a tutor, as they had held off until their elder sibling was five, and by that stage "cultural bias had by then become established".
What precisely does the family indicate by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "everything", the expert answered. "How you eat, the manner you speak".
He explained the firstborn had picked up "really subtle, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had assumed their cultural norms. The family told the consultant they wished to avoid the same situation to recur with their new baby.
The intention: To engage a British tutor, who must speak with standard English accent, to influence the baby right from the beginning.
Osmotic Learning
"A lot of the development at the start here is kind of acquired indirectly," explained the CEO.
It's via this natural absorption that the family are hoping the child will adopt the British traits they want to impart.
Adam said the tutor must be someone who went to "the right kinds of schools – the same kinds of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The instructor just has to be the suitable individual, they'll be carrying out things they aren't even aware they're doing, effortlessly," he added.
Expense Not a Factor
The family explained to the expert the chosen tutor should preferably also have understanding of or enthusiasm in horse riding, winter sports, the arts and instrumental training so as to shape the child in a diverse set of passions.
More than that though, he explained the family hoped the tutor to sign up the child on a range of classes so the child would be "pony-riding and learning an tool by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's perspective, assisting their son grow into a "UK sophisticate" will bring about achievement and create opportunities.
"For all the pros and cons of that, because it's certainly a status symbol," he adds.
Yet, in spite of all this instruction in "UK identity", could the child absorb so-called cultural influence from the international family he resides with regardless?
"Certainly", said Adam. "The parents realize this might not succeed, but they've merely embraced the attitude of, 'why not attempt it and we'll proceed as soon as we can', because the cost of it is not a concern," he said.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
There are some in the tutoring industry who share these reservations.
Peter Cui, chief executive of Blue Education, who also offer private tutors, wrote that "the development of adopting dual cultures, or actually, forming one's identity, is something that must be lived into, not designed."
Peter wrote that he had relocated from Asia to the Britain at the age of seven, and had been educated experiencing and living both cultures. He progressed to study at the University of Cambridge.
"The notion that one individual can serve as a representation of UK identity, someone who can possibly transplant the characteristics of a English gentleman to a one-year-old child, strikes me as naive and unfeasible," he commented.
"In my experience, employing a distinctly English tutor from infancy will not instantly produce the outcome they desire.
"I wasn't provided with that kind of mentor, and yet I have been fortunate enough to live many of the opportunities they hope for their son."
He continued: "The reality is, cultural identity cannot be imposed from the outside; it must be chosen, and it must be internally driven."
Acquiring Englishness
Certainly, UK identity is something Adam hopes can be instructed – and commercialized.
"I think the reality that the world regards us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
