"Parents based in the northern part of London seeks an remarkable and qualified educator to support their smallest child on his first steps to becoming an English gentleman."
Looking at this listing, you might easily skip the phrase "initial stages" as mere a turn of phrase.
Yet, it might be the most significant part of this unique employment listing, as it seeks to find a mentor for a infant.
Hundreds of applications have now been sent in since the anonymous family published their search for the £180,000 per year tutor, who has to be "someone very special".
Over the last few weeks, the advert has attracted notice in the press, with several asking why?
Innovative Idea
Adam Caller, head and founder of Tutors International, which is assisting the family in their quest, said that despite initial doubt, he found the concept "far sighted", and "advanced".
When he consulted the family, he mentioned they recognized the unconventional nature of their request, and how young their son is.
However, they clarified that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to get a tutor, as they had held off until their older child was five, and by that age "cultural conditioning had already taken hold".
What exactly does the family mean by "cultural leaning"?
It's "everything", the expert replied. "The way you eat, the manner you speak".
He explained the firstborn had absorbed "really subtle, unspoken signals" from the family, and had adopted their cultural habits. The family told the consultant they wished to avoid history to recur with their infant.
The plan: To hire a English tutor, who needs to speak with Received Pronunciation, to influence the baby from the very start.
Osmotic Learning
"Much of the education at the outset here is somewhat acquired indirectly," explained Adam.
It's through this subtle influence that the family are expecting the child will acquire the English characteristics they aim to instil.
Adam said the tutor had to be somebody who went to "prestigious academies – similar types 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 doing things they aren't even aware they're doing, simply by nature," he said.
Cost Not Relevant
The family informed the expert the successful candidate should ideally also have understanding of or enthusiasm in riding, skiing, the arts and instrumental training so as to influence the child in a wide range of hobbies.
Furthermore though, he explained the family desired the tutor to enrol the child on a variety of courses so the child would be "pony-riding and learning an tool by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's minds, helping their son become a "English gentleman" will result in success and open doors.
"Taking into account the rights and wrongs of that, because it's certainly a social class indicator," he comments.
However, in spite of all this instruction in "UK identity", would the child pick up alleged cultural bias from the globally influenced family he resides with in any case?
"Yes", answered the CEO. "The family know this may not work, but they've simply adopted the attitude of, 'we should try and we should start as soon as we can', because the price of it is not a concern," he stated.
Impractical
Several in the tutoring industry who express those reservations.
Peter Cui, head and founder of Blue Education, who also offer individual instructors, wrote that "the journey of becoming bicultural, or indeed, forming one's identity, is something that must be grown into, not engineered."
He wrote that he had moved from Asia to the Britain at the time of seven, and had been educated knowing and practicing both cultures. He went on to study at Cambridge University.
"The concept that one individual can act as a living vessel of English culture, someone who can possibly transplant the qualities of a English gentleman onto a one-year-old child, appears idealistic and impractical," he stated.
"Based on my background, having a typically English tutor from infancy will does not automatically create the goal they want.
"I wasn't provided with such a figure, and nevertheless I have been privileged enough to experience many of the opportunities they desire for their son."
He added: "The truth is, personal identity should not be dictated from the external environment; it must be chosen, and it must originate internally."
Purchasing UK Culture
Naturally, English culture is something Adam believes can be educated – and commercialized.
"I believe the reality that the world views us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
