"A family located in North London is looking for an remarkable and skilled educator to assist their youngest child on his early path to becoming an British gentleman."
Looking at this advertisement, you might naturally skip the term "initial stages" as simple a turn of phrase.
But, it might be the most significant part of this unusual position posting, as it attempts to hire a tutor for a one-year-old.
Numerous of responses have already been sent in since the anonymous family advertised their call for the £180,000 per year tutor, who needs to be "a uniquely qualified person".
During the past few weeks, the advert has attracted attention in the press, with numerous asking why?
Progressive Approach
A tutoring expert, CEO and founder of Tutors International, which is supporting the family in their search, explained that notwithstanding early scepticism, he considered the concept "forward-looking", and "advanced".
When he consulted the family, he said they appreciated the unconventional character of their request, and how young their son is.
Nevertheless, they explained that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had held off until their elder sibling was five, and by that stage "cultural influence had already set in".
What exactly does the family mean by "cultural bias"?
It's "all-encompassing", he replied. "How you eat, how you speak".
He stated the elder child had absorbed "really subtle, unspoken signals" from the family, and had assumed their cultural ways. The family told Adam they wished to avoid the same situation to happen again with their younger child.
The strategy: To bring in a UK tutor, who should speak with standard English accent, to shape the baby from the very start.
Osmotic Learning
"Much of the education at the beginning here is somewhat osmotic," said the CEO.
It's by means of this subtle influence that the family are expecting the child will pick up the British traits they wish to instil.
The consultant explained the tutor needed to be somebody who studied at "the appropriate educational institutions – similar types of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The instructor must be the appropriate candidate, they'll be performing things they may not realize they're doing, just naturally," he commented.
Money No Object
The family told the expert the chosen tutor should ideally also have understanding of or interest in horse riding, skiing, creative fields and instrumental training so as to shape the child in a diverse set of interests.
Additionally though, he stated the family hoped the tutor to register the child on a selection of classes so the child would be "equestrian training and learning an tool by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's view, assisting their son grow into a "UK sophisticate" will lead to achievement and open doors.
"Taking into account the pros and cons of that, because it's undoubtedly a class statement," he adds.
However, despite all this instruction in "UK identity", could the child pick up what is termed cultural leaning from the multicultural family he lives with anyway?
"Certainly", said he. "The parents understand this may not work, but they've simply adopted the perspective of, 'we should try and we'll proceed as early as we can', because the price of it is not a concern," he said.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
There are some in the tutoring industry who share similar reservations.
Peter Cui, chief executive of a tutoring service, who also offer private tutors, stated that "the development of becoming bicultural, or actually, discovering oneself, is something that must be lived into, not engineered."
Peter explained that he had moved from the Far East to the United Kingdom at the age of 7 years old, and had been brought up experiencing and practicing dual heritages. He went on to study at the University of Cambridge.
"The notion that an individual can function as a representation of English culture, an individual who can possibly transplant the qualities of a English gentleman onto a one-year-old child, appears optimistic and impractical," he wrote.
"In my experience, engaging a distinctly British tutor from early childhood will not automatically achieve the result they hope for.
"I never had such a tutor, and yet I have been fortunate enough to enjoy several of the experiences they aspire for their son."
He added: "The reality is, cultural identity can not be dictated from the external environment; it must be embraced, and it must originate internally."
Acquiring Englishness
Certainly, UK identity is something the CEO hopes can be taught – and commercialized.
"In my view the situation that the global community views us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
