"A family residing in North London wants to find an extraordinary and skilled instructor to assist their most junior child on his initial journey to growing into an English gentleman."
When reading this post, you might readily overlook the phrase "initial stages" as simple figurative language.
But, it could be the crucial part of this distinctive employment listing, as it attempts to hire a mentor for a 12-month-old.
Hundreds of responses have already been received since the anonymous family posted their call for the £180,000 per year tutor, who must be "a uniquely qualified person".
During the past few weeks, the listing has attracted attention throughout the news, with several wondering why?
Innovative Idea
Adam Caller, head and founder of Tutors International, which is assisting the family in their search, said that in spite of first skepticism, he considered the concept "forward-looking", and "innovative".
When he spoke with the family, he mentioned they understood the unusual nature of their request, and how immature their son is.
However, they stated that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had held off until their older child was five, and by that point "cultural conditioning had already become established".
What precisely did the family indicate by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "comprehensive", Adam replied. "The manner you eat, how you speak".
He said the elder child had adopted "extremely delicate, body language" from the family, and had taken on their cultural norms. The family told the consultant they did not want the same situation to happen again with their younger child.
The intention: To bring in a English tutor, who must speak with Received Pronunciation, to shape the baby from day one.
Osmotic Learning
"Much of the learning at the outset here is kind of osmotic," said Adam.
It's through this natural absorption that the family are hoping the child will adopt the UK customs they want to cultivate.
He said the tutor must be someone who attended "prestigious academies – comparable categories 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 don't even know they're doing, just naturally," he said.
Expense Not a Factor
The family explained to him the successful candidate should preferably also have familiarity of or enthusiasm in riding, skiing, the arts and music so as to influence the child in a wide range of hobbies.
Furthermore though, he explained the family hoped the tutor to register the child on a range of classes so the child would be "equestrian training and learning an tool by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's perspective, assisting their son develop into a "English gentleman" will lead to accomplishment and create opportunities.
"Considering the rights and wrongs of that, because it's undoubtedly a status symbol," he adds.
Yet, notwithstanding all this guidance in "UK identity", might the child absorb so-called cultural influence from the multicultural family he is raised by regardless?
"Absolutely", answered the CEO. "The family understand this could fail, but they've just taken the view of, 'why not attempt it and we'll proceed as early as we can', because the cost of it is not relevant," he explained.
Overly Optimistic
A number of in the tutoring industry who have similar reservations.
Another CEO, CEO and founder of a tutoring service, who supplies individual instructors, wrote that "the development of adopting dual cultures, or indeed, forming one's identity, is something that must be grown into, not engineered."
He noted that he had relocated from the Far East to the United Kingdom at the time of seven, and had been brought up experiencing and embodying dual heritages. He continued to be educated at Cambridge University.
"The notion that a single person can function as a living vessel of Britishness, someone who can in some way impart the characteristics of a UK sophisticate upon a one-year-old child, appears optimistic and unfeasible," he stated.
"From my perspective, having a distinctly English tutor from early childhood will does not automatically achieve the outcome they hope for.
"I did not have such a tutor, and however I have been fortunate enough to experience several of the experiences they hope for their son."
He added: "The fact is, self-identity should not be dictated from the external environment; it must be selected, and it must originate internally."
Buying Britishness
Certainly, UK identity is something the CEO hopes can be taught – and commercialized.
"I believe the situation that the world views us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
