"A family located in the northern part of London is looking for an extraordinary and skilled educator to support their smallest child on his first steps to turning into an English gentleman."
When reading this listing, you might naturally skip the term "initial stages" as just a turn of phrase.
But, it might be the most significant part of this unique position posting, as it attempts to hire a tutor for a infant.
Many of responses have now been received since the anonymous family advertised their call for the £180k-a-year tutor, who must be "an exceptional individual".
In recent few weeks, the advert has gained interest throughout the media, with numerous asking why?
Forward-Thinking Method
A tutoring expert, CEO and founder of Tutors International, which is helping the family in their search, explained that despite first skepticism, he found the plan "forward-looking", and "progressive".
When he spoke with the family, he said they recognized the atypical nature of their demand, and how early in age their son is.
Nevertheless, they explained that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had postponed until their elder sibling was five, and by that point "cultural conditioning had already become established".
But what did the family indicate by "cultural leaning"?
It's "comprehensive", Adam responded. "How you eat, the manner you speak".
He said the elder child had adopted "very nuanced, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had assumed their cultural ways. The family explained to the consultant they did not want this pattern to recur with their younger child.
The intention: To engage a British tutor, who should speak with Received Pronunciation, to shape the baby from day one.
Osmotic Learning
"A great deal of the education at the start here is somewhat absorbed naturally," said Adam.
It's by means of this subtle influence that the family are expecting the child will pick up the UK customs they want to impart.
Adam noted the tutor needed to be somebody who attended "prestigious academies – the same kinds of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The tutor must be the suitable individual, they'll be performing things they don't even know they're doing, effortlessly," he commented.
Expense Not a Factor
The family explained to him the chosen tutor should preferably also have knowledge of or enthusiasm in equestrian activities, winter sports, artistic pursuits and music so as to inspire the child in a diverse set of hobbies.
More than that though, he said the family hoped the tutor to enrol the child on a selection of classes so the child would be "horseback riding and learning an musical instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's view, guiding their son develop into a "English gentleman" will lead to accomplishment and provide access.
"Considering the rights and wrongs of that, because it's definitely a social class indicator," he notes.
However, in spite of all this guidance in "Britishness", would the child pick up so-called cultural leaning from the multicultural family he resides with in any case?
"Yes", said he. "They understand this may not work, but they've simply adopted the perspective of, 'why not attempt it and we should start as quickly as we can', because the cost of it is not a concern," he stated.
Impractical
There are some in the education sector who share these doubts.
An education leader, CEO and founder of an educational organization, who provides private tutors, wrote that "the development of embracing two identities, or in fact, forming one's identity, is something that must be experienced personally, not engineered."
Peter noted that he had relocated from Asia to the United Kingdom at the age of childhood, and had been brought up experiencing and practicing dual heritages. He continued to learn at a prestigious UK institution.
"The concept that an individual can act as a embodiment of English culture, someone who can possibly impart the characteristics of a British gentleman onto a infant child, appears naive and unfeasible," he wrote.
"From my perspective, having a quintessentially English tutor from babyhood will not automatically produce the result they want.
"I never had such a tutor, and however I have been privileged enough to experience many of the situations they hope for their son."
He continued: "The truth is, self-identity should not be forced from the outside; it must be embraced, and it must be internally driven."
Purchasing UK Culture
Certainly, Britishness is something Adam hopes can be taught – and marketed.
"I believe the fact that the world views us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
