"A household residing in North London is looking for an remarkable and experienced instructor to guide their youngest child on his first steps to growing into an British gentleman."
Upon seeing this listing, you might naturally skip the term "initial stages" as simple an expression.
But, it could be the most significant element of this unique employment listing, as it seeks to recruit a mentor for a one-year-old.
Numerous of responses have now been received since the unnamed family posted their call for the £180k-a-year tutor, who needs to be "an exceptional individual".
During the past few weeks, the advert has received notice across the press, with several wondering why?
Progressive Approach
The CEO, CEO and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is assisting the family in their quest, explained that in spite of first skepticism, he considered the plan "visionary", and "advanced".
When he consulted the family, he said they recognized the unusual aspect of their requirement, and how young their son is.
However, they clarified that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had waited until their elder sibling was five, and by that age "cultural conditioning had by then set in".
What exactly did the family indicate by "cultural bias"?
It's "everything", he answered. "The manner you eat, the way you speak".
He explained the elder child had absorbed "extremely delicate, unspoken signals" from the family, and had taken on their cultural ways. The family informed Adam they wished to avoid this pattern to happen again with their new baby.
The intention: To bring in a UK tutor, who should speak with standard English accent, to guide the baby from day one.
Osmotic Learning
"A lot of the development at the outset here is kind of osmotic," explained Adam.
It's by means of this subtle influence that the family are aiming the child will adopt the English characteristics they aim to impart.
The consultant said the tutor needed to be somebody who went to "the right kinds of schools – the same kinds of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The tutor just has to be the right kind of person, they'll be performing things they aren't even aware they're doing, effortlessly," he commented.
Cost Not Relevant
The family told the expert the chosen tutor should preferably also have familiarity of or enthusiasm in horse riding, alpine skiing, the arts and instrumental training so as to shape the child in a wide range of interests.
Furthermore though, he stated the family hoped the tutor to sign up the child on a selection of courses so the child would be "pony-riding and learning an instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's minds, assisting their son grow into a "British gentleman" will lead to success and open doors.
"Taking into account the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's undoubtedly a class statement," he notes.
But, notwithstanding all this guidance in "UK identity", could the child absorb so-called cultural leaning from the globally influenced family he lives with anyway?
"Absolutely", answered the CEO. "They know this could fail, but they've simply adopted the attitude of, 'why not attempt it and we should start as early as we can', because the cost of it is not a concern," he said.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
Several in the private teaching field who express these concerns.
Peter Cui, head and founder of a tutoring service, who also offer private tutors, wrote that "the journey of embracing two identities, or actually, discovering oneself, is something that must be grown into, not manufactured."
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 practicing two backgrounds. He progressed to study at Cambridge University.
"The notion that one individual can act as a living vessel of UK identity, an individual who can somehow transplant the attributes of a UK sophisticate onto a one-year-old child, strikes me as idealistic and unrealistic," he stated.
"From my perspective, having a typically British tutor from infancy will does not instantly produce the result they want.
"I did not have such a figure, and nevertheless I have been fortunate enough to enjoy numerous of the opportunities they aspire for their son."
He stated: "The reality is, cultural identity should not be forced from the outside; it must be selected, and it must be internally driven."
Buying Britishness
Of course, Britishness is something Adam believes can be instructed – and sold.
"In my view the reality that the world holds us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
