"Parents based in North London is looking for an remarkable and qualified tutor to guide their youngest child on his first steps to turning into an English gentleman."
Looking at this listing, you might readily skip the term "initial stages" as just figurative language.
Yet, it might be the most important aspect of this unusual position posting, as it attempts to hire a tutor for a 12-month-old.
Hundreds of responses have now been sent in since the unidentified family advertised their search for the highly paid tutor, who needs to be "someone very special".
Over the last few weeks, the listing has received attention across the news, with several questioning why?
Progressive Approach
The CEO, chief executive of an education consultancy, which is assisting the family in their hunt, said that notwithstanding first skepticism, he viewed the plan "visionary", and "progressive".
When he spoke with the family, he noted they understood the unconventional aspect of their demand, and how immature their son is.
But, they clarified that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had waited until their elder sibling was five, and by that point "cultural influence had already become established".
What exactly did the family refer to by "cultural bias"?
It's "all-encompassing", Adam answered. "How you eat, how you speak".
He explained the older sibling had adopted "extremely delicate, unspoken signals" from the family, and had assumed their cultural norms. The family explained to Adam they did not want the same situation to recur with their infant.
The plan: To engage a UK tutor, who needs to speak with RP, to shape the baby from day one.
Natural Absorption
"A lot of the learning at the start here is kind of absorbed naturally," stated the expert.
It's via this subtle influence that the family are expecting the child will acquire the English characteristics they want to cultivate.
Adam explained the tutor must be an individual who studied at "the right kinds of schools – the same kinds 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 don't even know they're doing, simply by nature," he commented.
Expense Not a Factor
The family informed the expert the successful candidate should preferably also have familiarity of or enthusiasm in riding, alpine skiing, creative fields and music so as to inspire the child in a broad spectrum of hobbies.
Furthermore though, he stated the family wanted the tutor to sign up the child on a range of courses so the child would be "equestrian training and learning an tool by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's minds, helping their son grow into a "English gentleman" will bring about achievement and create opportunities.
"Considering the pros and cons of that, because it's definitely a social class indicator," he adds.
However, in spite of all this tutelage in "Britishness", might the child adopt what is termed cultural influence from the multicultural family he is raised by regardless?
"Yes", said he. "The parents know this could fail, but they've simply adopted the view of, 'let's give it a go and let's go as quickly as we can', because the cost of it is irrelevant," he said.
Impractical
There are some in the private teaching field who express similar concerns.
An education leader, chief executive of a tutoring service, who provides individual instructors, wrote that "the journey of becoming bicultural, or actually, becoming oneself, is something that must be lived into, not designed."
The expert noted that he had emigrated from China to the Britain at the time of seven, and had been raised experiencing and living both cultures. He went on to learn at Cambridge University.
"The concept that a single person can act as a embodiment of UK identity, an individual who can in some way transfer the attributes of a UK sophisticate upon a 12-month-old child, strikes me as naive and impractical," he commented.
"In my experience, having a distinctly UK tutor from infancy will does not necessarily achieve the outcome they desire.
"I did not have such a figure, and yet I have been privileged enough to enjoy many of the situations they aspire for their son."
He stated: "The fact is, self-identity can not be dictated from the external environment; it must be chosen, and it must be internally driven."
Purchasing UK Culture
Of course, UK identity is something the expert believes can be taught – and marketed.
"In my view the fact that the global community regards us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
