"A family based in north London is looking for an remarkable and qualified instructor to assist their youngest child on his early path to growing into an English gentleman."
Looking at this advertisement, you might easily skip the phrase "initial stages" as mere figurative language.
Yet, it might be the most important aspect of this unique job advert, as it seeks to recruit a tutor for a 12-month-old.
Hundreds of submissions have already been submitted since the unnamed 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 attention throughout the press, with many asking why?
Forward-Thinking Method
A tutoring expert, head and founder of Tutors International, which is assisting the family in their hunt, stated that despite first scepticism, he considered the idea "visionary", and "innovative".
When he consulted the family, he mentioned they recognized the atypical character of their demand, and how immature their son is.
However, they explained that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had held off until their older child was five, and by that age "cultural bias had by then taken hold".
What precisely did the family mean by "cultural leaning"?
It's "comprehensive", he answered. "The manner you eat, the manner you speak".
He explained the older sibling had adopted "extremely delicate, body language" from the family, and had taken on their cultural habits. The family told Adam they wished to avoid history to recur with their infant.
The strategy: To engage a British tutor, who must speak with RP, to shape the baby right from the beginning.
Natural Absorption
"Much of the development at the start here is somewhat acquired indirectly," stated Adam.
It's through this natural absorption that the family are hoping the child will pick up the British traits they want to instil.
The consultant noted the tutor must be somebody who attended "the appropriate educational institutions – the same kinds of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The tutor just has to be the right kind of person, they'll be carrying out things they aren't even aware they're doing, just naturally," he commented.
Expense Not a Factor
The family told the expert the chosen tutor should ideally also have understanding of or interest in horse riding, skiing, artistic pursuits and music so as to shape the child in a broad spectrum of passions.
Furthermore though, he stated the family desired the tutor to sign up the child on a range of classes so the child would be "horseback riding and picking up an instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's minds, assisting their son become a "English gentleman" will bring about accomplishment and provide access.
"Taking into account the rights and wrongs of that, because it's certainly a social class indicator," he adds.
However, in spite of all this instruction in "English culture", would the child adopt alleged cultural leaning from the globally influenced family he is raised by in any case?
"Absolutely", replied he. "They know this could fail, but they've simply adopted the attitude of, 'we should try and we should start as soon as we can', because the expense of it is irrelevant," he said.
Impractical
Several in the education sector who express these reservations.
Another CEO, chief executive of Blue Education, who also offer private tutors, stated that "the development of adopting dual cultures, or actually, discovering oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not engineered."
Peter noted that he had moved from Asia to the UK at the time of childhood, and had been raised knowing and practicing both cultures. He went on to be educated at a prestigious UK institution.
"The idea that one individual can serve as a living vessel of Britishness, someone who can possibly transplant the attributes of a UK sophisticate onto a one-year-old child, seems to me naive and impractical," he stated.
"From my perspective, engaging a quintessentially British tutor from infancy will not instantly produce the outcome they want.
"I never had such a tutor, and nevertheless I have been fortunate enough to live several of the experiences they hope for their son."
He stated: "The truth is, self-identity cannot be imposed from the outside influences; it must be selected, and it must be internally driven."
Purchasing UK Culture
Naturally, English culture is something Adam believes can be instructed – and commercialized.
"In my view the fact that the world regards us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
