"Parents located in the northern part of London wants to find an extraordinary and skilled instructor to assist their youngest child on his first steps to growing into an English gentleman."
Looking at this post, you might readily skip the wording "initial stages" as mere figurative language.
Yet, it could be the most significant element of this unusual position posting, as it seeks to find a tutor for a 12-month-old.
Numerous of submissions have now been sent in since the unidentified family posted their call for the highly paid tutor, who needs to be "a uniquely qualified person".
Over the last few weeks, the advert has gained notice in the news, with numerous asking why?
Innovative Idea
Adam Caller, head and founder of Tutors International, which is helping the family in their search, stated that in spite of early scepticism, he considered the concept "visionary", and "progressive".
When he spoke with the family, he noted they understood the unusual character of their requirement, and how early in age their son is.
But, they explained that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had postponed until their elder sibling was five, and by that stage "cultural influence had by then set in".
What exactly did the family refer to by "cultural leaning"?
It's "all-encompassing", Adam replied. "The manner you eat, the way you speak".
He explained the elder child had picked up "really subtle, unspoken signals" from the family, and had taken on their cultural norms. The family explained to the consultant they hoped to prevent history to happen again with their infant.
The strategy: To hire a UK tutor, who should speak with RP, to influence the baby right from the beginning.
Subtle Influence
"Much of the learning at the beginning here is rather osmotic," said Adam.
It's through this subtle influence that the family are aiming the child will acquire the British traits they want to impart.
He noted the tutor needed to be someone who attended "the appropriate educational institutions – similar types of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The instructor just has to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be doing things they may not realize they're doing, effortlessly," he said.
Expense Not a Factor
The family explained to Adam the successful candidate should ideally also have familiarity of or interest in equestrian activities, skiing, artistic pursuits and music so as to shape the child in a diverse set of interests.
More than that though, he stated the family wanted the tutor to enrol the child on a range of lessons so the child would be "equestrian training and picking up an tool by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's perspective, assisting their son develop into a "English gentleman" will lead to success and create opportunities.
"For all the pros and cons of that, because it's certainly a class statement," he notes.
Yet, in spite of all this instruction in "UK identity", would the child pick up what is termed cultural influence from the globally influenced family he resides with anyway?
"Certainly", answered he. "They realize this may not work, but they've just taken the attitude of, 'let's give it a go and we should start as soon as we can', because the price of it is not a concern," he explained.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
There are some in the education sector who have similar concerns.
An education leader, chief executive of an educational organization, who supplies individual instructors, wrote that "the journey of adopting dual cultures, or in fact, becoming oneself, is something that must be lived into, not engineered."
He explained that he had emigrated from China to the UK at the time of childhood, and had been raised experiencing and living two backgrounds. He continued to study at a prestigious UK institution.
"The notion that one individual can serve as a representation of UK identity, someone who can somehow transplant the qualities of a British gentleman onto a infant child, seems to me optimistic and unrealistic," he wrote.
"Based on my background, engaging a distinctly British tutor from early childhood will will not instantly create the result they desire.
"I wasn't provided with such a figure, and yet I have been privileged enough to experience numerous of the situations they desire for their son."
He stated: "The fact is, self-identity cannot be forced from the outside; it must be chosen, and it must originate internally."
Acquiring Englishness
Of course, Britishness is something Adam believes can be educated – and commercialized.
"I believe the fact that the world holds us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
