"A family located in north London seeks an exceptional and experienced instructor to guide their most junior child on his initial journey to turning into an British gentleman."
When reading this post, you might naturally overlook the term "initial stages" as mere a turn of phrase.
Yet, it might be the most important element of this unique job advert, as it attempts to hire a mentor for a one-year-old.
Hundreds of applications have since been sent in since the unidentified family published their search for the £180k-a-year tutor, who needs to be "someone very special".
During the past few weeks, the listing has attracted attention across the media, with numerous asking why?
Innovative Idea
The CEO, chief executive of a global tutoring firm, which is assisting the family in their search, stated that notwithstanding early scepticism, he viewed the concept "visionary", and "innovative".
When he consulted the family, he noted they appreciated the atypical aspect of their demand, and how young their son is.
However, they explained that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to get a tutor, as they had held off until their elder sibling was five, and by that stage "cultural bias had already set in".
What exactly did the family mean by "cultural bias"?
It's "comprehensive", he answered. "How you eat, the manner you speak".
He said the firstborn had adopted "really subtle, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had adopted their cultural ways. The family told the consultant they did not want the same situation to recur with their infant.
The strategy: To engage a British tutor, who should speak with standard English accent, to shape the baby from the very start.
Subtle Influence
"A lot of the education at the beginning here is kind of acquired indirectly," said the expert.
It's through this subtle influence that the family are aiming the child will pick up the British traits they wish to instil.
Adam noted the tutor must be someone who studied at "the appropriate educational institutions – comparable categories of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The tutor just has to be the suitable individual, they'll be performing things they may not realize they're doing, simply by nature," he commented.
Money No Object
The family informed the expert the chosen tutor should ideally also have familiarity of or passion in equestrian activities, winter sports, artistic pursuits and music so as to inspire the child in a diverse set of hobbies.
Furthermore though, he stated the family hoped the tutor to enrol the child on a variety of classes so the child would be "equestrian training and starting an tool by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's view, guiding their son become a "UK sophisticate" will bring about achievement and open doors.
"Taking into account the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's undoubtedly a social class indicator," he adds.
Yet, notwithstanding all this guidance in "UK identity", would the child absorb alleged cultural influence from the multicultural family he is raised by in any case?
"Certainly", answered the CEO. "They realize this might not succeed, but they've simply adopted the attitude of, 'let's give it a go and we'll proceed as early as we can', because the cost of it is not a concern," he explained.
Impractical
A number of in the private teaching field who have these doubts.
An education leader, head and founder of a tutoring service, who provides private tutors, stated that "the process of becoming bicultural, or actually, forming one's identity, is something that must be experienced personally, not manufactured."
He wrote that he had moved from the Far East to the Britain at the age of seven, and had been raised experiencing and embodying both cultures. He continued to study at Cambridge University.
"The idea that a single person can function as a living vessel of English culture, a person who can possibly transplant the qualities of a British gentleman to a 12-month-old child, seems to me naive and unfeasible," he wrote.
"Based on my background, having a typically UK tutor from infancy will not instantly create the outcome they hope for.
"I did not have such a figure, and however I have been privileged enough to live many of the experiences they hope for their son."
He stated: "The truth is, cultural identity can not be dictated from the outside; it must be chosen, and it must be internally driven."
Buying Britishness
Certainly, UK identity is something the CEO thinks can be taught – and marketed.
"In my view the fact that the world holds us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
