"Parents based in north London wants to find an exceptional and qualified educator to guide their smallest child on his first steps to turning into an British gentleman."
Looking at this listing, you might naturally skip the term "initial stages" as mere an expression.
However, it may be the most significant aspect of this distinctive employment listing, as it seeks to hire a tutor for a 12-month-old.
Many of applications have since been received since the anonymous family posted their search for the highly paid tutor, who has to be "an exceptional individual".
In recent few weeks, the listing has received attention throughout the news, with numerous questioning why?
Innovative Idea
Adam Caller, CEO and founder of an education consultancy, which is helping the family in their quest, stated that notwithstanding initial doubt, he considered the concept "visionary", and "innovative".
When he spoke with the family, he said they understood the unconventional nature of their requirement, and how young their son is.
But, they stated that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had postponed until their firstborn was five, and by that age "cultural bias had by then set in".
But what did the family mean by "cultural bias"?
It's "everything", the expert answered. "How you eat, the manner you speak".
He explained the firstborn had absorbed "really subtle, unspoken signals" from the family, and had taken on their cultural habits. The family told him they hoped to prevent this pattern to recur with their younger child.
The intention: To engage a British tutor, who needs to speak with standard English accent, to guide the baby right from the beginning.
Osmotic Learning
"A great deal of the development at the beginning here is somewhat acquired indirectly," stated the expert.
It's by means of this natural absorption that the family are expecting the child will adopt the English characteristics they aim to cultivate.
The consultant said the tutor must be an individual who studied at "the appropriate educational institutions – comparable categories of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The instructor just has to be the suitable individual, they'll be performing things they aren't even aware they're doing, simply by nature," he added.
Cost Not Relevant
The family told Adam the chosen tutor should ideally also have familiarity of or interest in equestrian activities, winter sports, artistic pursuits and music so as to inspire the child in a wide range of interests.
Furthermore though, he said the family wanted the tutor to register the child on a variety of courses so the child would be "horseback riding and picking up an instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's view, guiding their son develop into a "British gentleman" will lead to success and open doors.
"For all the rights and wrongs of that, because it's undoubtedly a class statement," he adds.
However, in spite of all this instruction in "UK identity", would the child pick up what is termed cultural bias from the globally influenced family he lives with regardless?
"Yes", answered the CEO. "The family know this could fail, but they've simply adopted the view of, 'we should try and let's go as quickly as we can', because the expense of it is irrelevant," he said.
Overly Optimistic
There are some in the education sector who express those concerns.
Peter Cui, chief executive of an educational organization, who also offer personal educators, wrote that "the process of becoming bicultural, or actually, forming one's identity, is something that must be experienced personally, not designed."
He noted that he had relocated from Asia to the Britain at the age of seven, and had been brought up knowing and practicing two backgrounds. He continued to be educated at the University of Cambridge.
"The idea that a single person can serve as a representation of Britishness, a person who can somehow transfer the attributes of a British gentleman to a 12-month-old child, appears idealistic and unrealistic," he commented.
"Based on my background, employing a quintessentially UK tutor from babyhood will not automatically create the goal they desire.
"I did not have such a tutor, and however I have been fortunate enough to experience numerous of the experiences they aspire for their son."
He added: "The reality is, cultural identity can not be forced from the outside influences; it must be chosen, and it must come from within."
Buying Britishness
Of course, Britishness is something Adam believes can be instructed – and sold.
"I think the fact that the world views us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
