"A family residing in north London is looking for an remarkable and skilled educator to support their youngest child on his early path to turning into an British gentleman."
Upon seeing this advertisement, you might easily skip the wording "initial stages" as simple a turn of phrase.
However, it could be the most important element of this unusual employment listing, as it attempts to find a tutor for a 12-month-old.
Hundreds of responses have since been submitted since the anonymous family advertised their request for the £180,000 per year tutor, who needs to be "someone very special".
Over the last few weeks, the listing has gained attention throughout the media, with numerous questioning why?
Innovative Idea
Adam Caller, CEO and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is helping the family in their search, said that notwithstanding first skepticism, he considered the plan "forward-looking", and "progressive".
When he spoke with the family, he said they understood the unusual nature of their demand, and how young their son is.
Nevertheless, they clarified 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 influence had already become established".
What exactly does the family indicate by "cultural leaning"?
It's "comprehensive", the expert replied. "How you eat, how you speak".
He explained the older sibling had picked up "extremely delicate, body language" from the family, and had adopted their cultural ways. The family explained to him they hoped to prevent history to repeat itself with their younger child.
The strategy: To engage a English tutor, who should speak with Received Pronunciation, to shape the baby right from the beginning.
Subtle Influence
"A lot of the learning at the beginning here is kind of absorbed naturally," stated the expert.
It's through this subtle influence that the family are expecting the child will adopt the English characteristics they aim to cultivate.
Adam noted the tutor had to be someone who studied at "prestigious academies – similar types of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The tutor just has to be the suitable individual, they'll be performing things they aren't even aware they're doing, simply by nature," he said.
Cost Not Relevant
The family told the expert the successful candidate should preferably also have knowledge of or passion in riding, winter sports, artistic pursuits and music so as to inspire the child in a broad spectrum of hobbies.
More than that though, he said the family hoped the tutor to enrol the child on a range of classes so the child would be "horseback riding and learning an tool by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's view, guiding their son become a "English gentleman" will result in success and open doors.
"For all the pros and cons of that, because it's certainly a status symbol," he adds.
Yet, notwithstanding all this tutelage in "UK identity", could the child pick up what is termed cultural influence from the multicultural family he is raised by anyway?
"Certainly", replied he. "They realize this may not work, but they've simply adopted the perspective of, 'we should try and we'll proceed as soon as we can', because the expense of it is irrelevant," he said.
Impractical
A number of in the education sector who share these doubts.
Another CEO, CEO and founder of Blue Education, who supplies personal educators, wrote that "the process of embracing two identities, or in fact, becoming oneself, is something that must be lived into, not engineered."
The expert noted that he had relocated from Asia to the UK at the age of childhood, and had been brought up experiencing and practicing dual heritages. He progressed to be educated at the University of Cambridge.
"The notion that a single person can serve as a living vessel of Britishness, an individual who can possibly impart the attributes of a British gentleman onto a 12-month-old child, appears idealistic and unrealistic," he commented.
"In my experience, having a typically English tutor from early childhood will does not instantly produce the result they want.
"I did not have such a tutor, and yet I have been lucky enough to enjoy several of the situations they desire for their son."
He stated: "The truth is, self-identity can not be imposed from the external environment; it must be selected, and it must be internally driven."
Acquiring Englishness
Naturally, Britishness is something Adam hopes can be instructed – and marketed.
"In my view the reality that the world holds us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
