"A family located in the northern part of London is looking for an exceptional and qualified tutor to assist their youngest child on his early path to becoming an British gentleman."
Looking at this advertisement, you might naturally overlook the phrase "initial stages" as simple figurative language.
However, it might be the most significant part of this unusual position posting, as it attempts to find a teacher for a 12-month-old.
Hundreds of submissions have since been received since the unidentified family published their request for the £180k-a-year tutor, who must be "a uniquely qualified person".
During the past few weeks, the advert has received notice across the press, with several questioning why?
Innovative Idea
Adam Caller, chief executive of an education consultancy, which is helping the family in their search, said that notwithstanding first doubt, he viewed the idea "forward-looking", and "advanced".
When he consulted the family, he said they recognized the unconventional aspect of their demand, and how young their son is.
However, they explained that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had held off until their firstborn was five, and by that age "cultural conditioning had already set in".
What exactly did the family indicate by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "everything", Adam responded. "How you eat, the manner you speak".
He stated the elder child had adopted "really subtle, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had adopted their cultural habits. The family informed Adam they wished to avoid history to recur with their younger child.
The intention: To hire a UK tutor, who must speak with Received Pronunciation, to influence the baby from day one.
Natural Absorption
"A great deal of the development at the start here is kind of absorbed naturally," stated the expert.
It's by means of this natural absorption that the family are aiming the child will adopt the English characteristics they want to instil.
He said the tutor needed to be someone who studied at "the right kinds of schools – similar types of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The tutor simply needs to be the right kind of person, they'll be carrying out things they aren't even aware they're doing, simply by nature," he commented.
Money No Object
The family explained to him the successful candidate should ideally also have understanding of or passion in riding, skiing, artistic pursuits and instrumental training so as to influence the child in a diverse set of interests.
More than that though, he explained the family hoped the tutor to register the child on a variety of courses so the child would be "horseback riding and starting an instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's perspective, assisting their son grow into a "English gentleman" will result in accomplishment and create opportunities.
"For all the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's definitely a status symbol," he comments.
Yet, in spite of all this tutelage in "Britishness", might the child pick up what is termed cultural influence from the multicultural family he resides with regardless?
"Yes", answered Adam. "The family realize this could fail, but they've merely embraced the perspective of, 'let's give it a go and let's go as early as we can', because the cost of it is irrelevant," he stated.
Impractical
A number of in the tutoring industry who express these doubts.
Another CEO, CEO and founder of an educational organization, who supplies private tutors, commented that "the journey of embracing two identities, or indeed, becoming oneself, is something that must be lived into, not manufactured."
He wrote that he had emigrated from China to the Britain at the time of seven, and had been educated experiencing and living two backgrounds. He went on to learn at Cambridge University.
"The idea that one individual can act as a living vessel of UK identity, someone who can possibly transfer the qualities of a UK sophisticate to a infant child, seems to me optimistic and unfeasible," he stated.
"In my experience, having a distinctly English tutor from early childhood will will not automatically achieve the result they want.
"I wasn't provided with such a tutor, and nevertheless I have been lucky enough to enjoy many of the opportunities they desire for their son."
He continued: "The fact is, cultural identity can not be imposed from the external environment; it must be selected, and it must come from within."
Acquiring Englishness
Naturally, UK identity is something the CEO believes can be instructed – and marketed.
"I believe the situation that the international society regards us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
