"A household located in the northern part of London is looking for an remarkable and skilled instructor to guide their most junior child on his first steps to growing into an British gentleman."
Upon seeing this post, you might naturally overlook the wording "initial stages" as simple a turn of phrase.
However, it may be the most important aspect of this unusual job advert, as it aims to hire a teacher for a 12-month-old.
Hundreds of applications have since been submitted since the unidentified family published their request for the £180,000 per year tutor, who needs to be "a uniquely qualified person".
During the past few weeks, the listing has received attention across the news, with several questioning why?
Innovative Idea
A tutoring expert, chief executive of a global tutoring firm, which is helping the family in their hunt, explained that notwithstanding initial doubt, he found the plan "far sighted", and "innovative".
When he spoke with the family, he noted they understood the unusual aspect of their request, and how immature their son is.
However, they explained that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had postponed until their elder sibling was five, and by that age "cultural conditioning had already become established".
What exactly did the family mean by "cultural leaning"?
It's "all-encompassing", he responded. "The manner you eat, the manner you speak".
He said the older sibling had adopted "extremely delicate, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had adopted their cultural habits. The family explained to the consultant they wished to avoid this pattern to recur with their new baby.
The intention: To engage a UK tutor, who must speak with Received Pronunciation, to shape the baby from the very start.
Natural Absorption
"Much of the education at the start here is kind of absorbed naturally," said Adam.
It's through this osmosis that the family are aiming the child will acquire the British traits they wish to instil.
The consultant noted the tutor needed to be somebody who studied at "prestigious academies – comparable categories of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The educator just has to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be performing things they may not realize they're doing, simply by nature," he commented.
Cost Not Relevant
The family explained to the expert the successful candidate should ideally also have knowledge of or interest in riding, alpine skiing, creative fields and instrumental training so as to shape the child in a wide range of hobbies.
Additionally though, he stated the family hoped the tutor to enrol the child on a selection of lessons so the child would be "pony-riding and learning an musical instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's minds, assisting their son grow into a "UK sophisticate" will result in accomplishment and provide access.
"For all the rights and wrongs of that, because it's definitely a social class indicator," he notes.
However, notwithstanding all this tutelage in "Britishness", could the child adopt what is termed cultural bias from the globally influenced family he is raised by anyway?
"Yes", said Adam. "The parents know this might not succeed, but they've simply adopted the attitude of, 'let's give it a go and let's go as soon as we can', because the price of it is not a concern," he stated.
Overly Optimistic
Several in the tutoring industry who share these concerns.
Peter Cui, CEO and founder of an educational organization, who provides individual instructors, stated that "the process of embracing two identities, or indeed, becoming oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not manufactured."
Peter noted that he had moved from the Far East to the Britain at the age of childhood, and had been raised experiencing and practicing two backgrounds. He progressed to be educated at a prestigious UK institution.
"The notion that an individual can serve as a embodiment of Britishness, someone who can somehow impart the characteristics of a English gentleman upon a 12-month-old child, appears optimistic and unrealistic," he stated.
"Based on my background, employing a quintessentially English tutor from babyhood will does not instantly produce the result they hope for.
"I never had that kind of mentor, and however I have been fortunate enough to live several of the situations they hope for their son."
He continued: "The fact is, personal identity can not be forced from the outside; it must be chosen, and it must originate internally."
Buying Britishness
Certainly, English culture is something Adam thinks can be taught – and commercialized.
"I think the reality that the global community regards us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
