"A family located in north London wants to find an extraordinary and skilled educator to guide their youngest child on his early path to becoming an English gentleman."
When reading this advertisement, you might easily overlook the term "initial stages" as simple an expression.
Yet, it could be the crucial element of this unusual position posting, as it attempts to hire a mentor for a one-year-old.
Hundreds of responses have since been sent in since the unidentified family posted their request for the highly paid tutor, who must be "someone very special".
Over the last few weeks, the listing has received attention across the press, with many asking why?
Forward-Thinking Method
Adam Caller, CEO and founder of an education consultancy, which is helping the family in their hunt, said that notwithstanding initial doubt, he viewed the idea "forward-looking", and "innovative".
When he consulted the family, he noted they recognized the unconventional character of their request, and how immature their son is.
However, they explained that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to get a tutor, as they had postponed until their firstborn was five, and by that stage "cultural bias had by then taken hold".
What precisely does the family mean by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "all-encompassing", he responded. "The way you eat, the way you speak".
He stated the firstborn had absorbed "extremely delicate, unspoken signals" from the family, and had assumed their cultural norms. The family explained to Adam they hoped to prevent history to recur with their infant.
The strategy: To bring in a British tutor, who should speak with Received Pronunciation, to guide the baby right from the beginning.
Subtle Influence
"A great deal of the education at the outset here is somewhat osmotic," explained the expert.
It's via this natural absorption that the family are expecting the child will adopt the English characteristics they want to impart.
He explained the tutor must be someone who attended "the appropriate educational institutions – the same kinds of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The educator just has to be the right kind of person, they'll be doing things they don't even know they're doing, effortlessly," he said.
Money No Object
The family explained to him the chosen tutor should ideally also have familiarity of or enthusiasm in horse riding, alpine skiing, artistic pursuits and instrumental training so as to inspire the child in a broad spectrum of hobbies.
Additionally though, he stated the family hoped the tutor to enrol the child on a selection of courses so the child would be "equestrian training and starting an musical instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's perspective, assisting their son develop into a "UK sophisticate" will lead to success and create opportunities.
"Considering the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's definitely a status symbol," he comments.
However, despite all this instruction in "UK identity", could the child adopt what is termed cultural influence from the globally influenced family he lives with anyway?
"Certainly", answered the CEO. "They know this might not succeed, but they've simply adopted the perspective of, 'we should try and let's go as soon as we can', because the cost of it is irrelevant," he said.
Overly Optimistic
A number of in the education sector who express these reservations.
An education leader, chief executive of Blue Education, who also offer personal educators, wrote that "the development of embracing two identities, or actually, forming one's identity, is something that must be grown into, not manufactured."
The expert explained that he had relocated from the Far East to the United Kingdom at the time of seven, and had been brought up understanding and embodying dual heritages. He went on to be educated at Cambridge University.
"The idea that one individual can act as a living vessel of Britishness, a person who can somehow transfer the characteristics of a English gentleman to a one-year-old child, appears naive and unfeasible," he wrote.
"From my perspective, engaging a distinctly UK tutor from babyhood will not instantly create the result they hope for.
"I did not have such a tutor, and nevertheless I have been fortunate enough to experience several of the opportunities they hope for their son."
He added: "The truth is, self-identity should not be dictated from the outside influences; it must be selected, and it must originate internally."
Purchasing UK Culture
Of course, English culture is something the CEO thinks can be instructed – and marketed.
"I believe the fact that the international society holds us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
