"A family located in North London wants to find an exceptional and qualified instructor to support their youngest child on his early path to growing into an English gentleman."
When reading this listing, you might naturally skip the wording "initial stages" as simple an expression.
However, it could be the most important part of this unusual employment listing, as it attempts to hire a mentor for a one-year-old.
Hundreds of submissions have now been submitted since the anonymous family published their search for the £180,000 per year tutor, who must be "a uniquely qualified person".
Over the last few weeks, the listing has received notice across the media, with several wondering why?
Forward-Thinking Method
The CEO, CEO and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is supporting the family in their quest, explained that in spite of initial skepticism, he considered the idea "forward-looking", and "innovative".
When he met the family, he noted they understood the unconventional nature of their demand, and how young their son is.
But, they stated that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to get a tutor, as they had postponed until their older child was five, and by that stage "cultural bias had already become established".
What precisely did the family indicate by "cultural leaning"?
It's "everything", Adam answered. "How you eat, the way you speak".
He said the older sibling had picked up "very nuanced, unspoken signals" from the family, and had adopted their cultural habits. The family informed the consultant they wished to avoid this pattern to repeat itself with their new baby.
The intention: To hire a British tutor, who should speak with standard English accent, to shape the baby from the very start.
Osmotic Learning
"A great deal of the development at the start here is kind of osmotic," explained the expert.
It's through this subtle influence that the family are hoping the child will adopt the British traits they aim to instil.
He said the tutor needed to be somebody who attended "the right kinds of schools – the same kinds of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The educator simply needs to be the right kind of person, they'll be performing things they may not realize they're doing, effortlessly," he commented.
Expense Not a Factor
The family told him the selected educator should ideally also have knowledge of or interest in horse riding, alpine skiing, creative fields and music so as to influence the child in a diverse set of hobbies.
Additionally though, he said the family hoped the tutor to register the child on a selection of classes so the child would be "pony-riding and learning an tool by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's minds, guiding their son develop into a "British gentleman" will lead to accomplishment and create opportunities.
"Considering the pros and cons of that, because it's certainly a status symbol," he notes.
However, in spite of all this instruction in "UK identity", might the child adopt so-called cultural influence from the international family he resides with anyway?
"Yes", said he. "The family know this may not work, but they've just taken the perspective of, 'let's give it a go and let's go as quickly as we can', because the expense of it is not relevant," he explained.
Overly Optimistic
There are some in the tutoring industry who have those doubts.
Another CEO, chief executive of Blue Education, who provides personal educators, stated that "the development of adopting dual cultures, or indeed, becoming oneself, is something that must be grown into, not manufactured."
Peter explained that he had emigrated from the Far East to the United Kingdom at the time of seven, and had been educated experiencing and living dual heritages. He continued to learn at the University of Cambridge.
"The notion that a single person can serve as a embodiment of English culture, an individual who can in some way impart the attributes of a UK sophisticate onto a infant child, appears naive and unfeasible," he commented.
"In my experience, engaging a typically English tutor from early childhood will does not automatically achieve the outcome they hope for.
"I never had that kind of mentor, and yet I have been lucky enough to experience several of the experiences they desire for their son."
He continued: "The fact is, personal identity cannot be imposed from the outside influences; it must be embraced, and it must originate internally."
Buying Britishness
Of course, Britishness is something the CEO believes can be instructed – and sold.
"I believe the situation that the international society regards us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
