"A household based in north London seeks an extraordinary and skilled instructor to support their most junior child on his first steps to growing into an English gentleman."
Looking at this listing, you might easily skip the wording "initial stages" as just an expression.
However, it could be the crucial aspect of this unusual job advert, as it attempts to find a teacher for a one-year-old.
Hundreds of applications have now been submitted since the anonymous family published their request for the £180,000 per year tutor, who needs to be "an exceptional individual".
In recent few weeks, the listing has received attention in the news, with many wondering why?
Forward-Thinking Method
Adam Caller, CEO and founder of Tutors International, which is assisting the family in their hunt, stated that notwithstanding initial scepticism, he considered the concept "forward-looking", and "innovative".
When he consulted the family, he said they understood the unconventional aspect of their request, and how early in age their son is.
But, they explained that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had postponed until their firstborn was five, and by that point "cultural influence had already taken hold".
What precisely did the family refer to by "cultural bias"?
It's "everything", the expert responded. "How you eat, the way you speak".
He stated the older sibling had adopted "very nuanced, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had adopted their cultural habits. The family explained to him they wished to avoid this pattern to happen again with their new baby.
The plan: To hire a English tutor, who must speak with RP, to guide the baby from day one.
Natural Absorption
"A lot of the learning at the outset here is somewhat acquired indirectly," stated Adam.
It's via this osmosis that the family are expecting the child will pick up the English characteristics they wish to instil.
Adam explained the tutor must be someone who attended "the appropriate educational institutions – comparable categories of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The tutor just has to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be doing things they may not realize they're doing, effortlessly," he added.
Money No Object
The family explained to him the selected educator should ideally also have familiarity of or enthusiasm in equestrian activities, winter sports, creative fields and instrumental training so as to shape the child in a broad spectrum of hobbies.
More than that though, he explained the family desired the tutor to sign up the child on a selection of lessons so the child would be "equestrian training and learning an tool by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's minds, helping their son become a "English gentleman" will bring about success and open doors.
"For all the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's definitely a social class indicator," he comments.
Yet, despite all this tutelage in "English culture", could the child absorb so-called cultural leaning from the international family he resides with in any case?
"Certainly", replied Adam. "The parents know this may not work, but they've just taken the attitude of, 'why not attempt it and let's go as early as we can', because the cost of it is irrelevant," he explained.
Overly Optimistic
There are some in the tutoring industry who have those concerns.
Peter Cui, CEO and founder of a tutoring service, who provides individual instructors, commented that "the journey of adopting dual cultures, or in fact, forming one's identity, is something that must be experienced personally, not manufactured."
Peter noted that he had moved from the Far East to the Britain at the time of 7 years old, and had been brought up knowing and practicing both cultures. He went on to be educated at a prestigious UK institution.
"The concept that one individual can act as a living vessel of Britishness, an individual who can in some way impart the attributes of a British gentleman onto a infant child, strikes me as naive and impractical," he wrote.
"Based on my background, engaging a quintessentially British tutor from babyhood will does not automatically achieve the result they want.
"I did not have such a figure, and yet I have been privileged enough to enjoy numerous of the situations they aspire for their son."
He stated: "The truth is, personal identity cannot be imposed from the external environment; it must be chosen, and it must be internally driven."
Purchasing UK Culture
Of course, English culture is something the CEO hopes can be instructed – and sold.
"I think the reality that the global community regards us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
