"A household based in north London seeks an extraordinary and experienced tutor to guide their youngest child on his early path to growing into an British gentleman."
When reading this advertisement, you might readily overlook the phrase "initial stages" as simple a turn of phrase.
But, it may be the most significant part of this distinctive job advert, as it attempts to hire a tutor for a infant.
Hundreds of submissions have since been received since the unidentified family posted their search for the £180,000 per year tutor, who has to be "an exceptional individual".
In recent few weeks, the listing has gained notice across the media, with many questioning why?
Innovative Idea
Adam Caller, CEO and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is assisting the family in their search, stated that despite first doubt, he viewed the concept "far sighted", and "innovative".
When he consulted the family, he mentioned they appreciated the atypical character of their demand, and how early in age their son is.
However, they explained that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had held off until their elder sibling was five, and by that point "cultural conditioning had already taken hold".
What precisely did the family indicate by "cultural bias"?
It's "everything", Adam responded. "The way you eat, how you speak".
He explained the firstborn had absorbed "very nuanced, body language" from the family, and had taken on their cultural habits. The family informed the consultant they did not want this pattern to repeat itself with their new baby.
The intention: To bring in a British tutor, who must speak with standard English accent, to shape the baby from the very start.
Subtle Influence
"Much of the development at the beginning here is rather acquired indirectly," said the expert.
It's by means of this osmosis that the family are hoping the child will adopt the UK customs they want to cultivate.
The consultant noted the tutor must be someone who attended "prestigious academies – comparable categories of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The tutor must be the appropriate candidate, they'll be doing things they aren't even aware they're doing, simply by nature," he said.
Cost Not Relevant
The family told him the successful candidate should ideally also have understanding of or interest in riding, alpine skiing, the arts and music so as to influence the child in a broad spectrum of passions.
More than that though, he explained the family desired the tutor to register the child on a range of lessons so the child would be "horseback riding and picking up an musical instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's minds, assisting their son grow into a "English gentleman" will bring about success and create opportunities.
"Taking into account the rights and wrongs of that, because it's definitely a class statement," he notes.
Yet, notwithstanding all this tutelage in "Britishness", might the child absorb alleged cultural bias from the multicultural family he resides with regardless?
"Certainly", replied Adam. "The family realize this may not work, but they've just taken the attitude of, 'let's give it a go and we should start as quickly as we can', because the expense of it is not a concern," he explained.
Impractical
Several in the tutoring industry who share these doubts.
Peter Cui, head and founder of a tutoring service, who provides individual instructors, wrote that "the development of embracing two identities, or actually, discovering oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not manufactured."
He noted that he had relocated from Asia to the Britain at the age of 7 years old, and had been brought up knowing and living two backgrounds. He progressed to be educated at Cambridge University.
"The notion that an individual can act as a living vessel of UK identity, someone who can in some way impart the qualities of a UK sophisticate upon a 12-month-old child, appears naive and unfeasible," he wrote.
"From my perspective, engaging a distinctly UK tutor from infancy will does not automatically create the result they want.
"I wasn't provided with such a tutor, and yet I have been fortunate enough to live numerous of the opportunities they desire for their son."
He stated: "The fact is, personal identity can not be forced from the outside; it must be chosen, and it must be internally driven."
Purchasing UK Culture
Certainly, English culture is something the CEO thinks can be instructed – and sold.
"In my view the reality that the world views us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
