"A household located in the northern part of London is looking for an extraordinary and qualified instructor to assist their smallest child on his initial journey to turning into an British gentleman."
Upon seeing this listing, you might easily overlook the wording "initial stages" as just an expression.
But, it might be the crucial part of this unique position posting, as it attempts to recruit a tutor for a one-year-old.
Numerous of applications have since been sent in since the unidentified family advertised their call for the £180k-a-year tutor, who must be "someone very special".
Over the last few weeks, the listing has attracted attention throughout the press, with several asking why?
Progressive Approach
A tutoring expert, chief executive of a global tutoring firm, which is supporting the family in their search, said that despite early scepticism, he viewed the plan "forward-looking", and "progressive".
When he spoke with the family, he noted they understood the unusual nature of their request, and how young their son is.
However, 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 conditioning had already become established".
What exactly does the family indicate by "cultural bias"?
It's "comprehensive", the expert responded. "The way you eat, the way you speak".
He said the firstborn had absorbed "very nuanced, body language" from the family, and had assumed their cultural ways. The family explained to the consultant they wished to avoid the same situation to repeat itself with their infant.
The strategy: To engage a English tutor, who needs to speak with standard English accent, to shape the baby right from the beginning.
Natural Absorption
"A lot of the development at the outset here is kind of osmotic," explained the CEO.
It's by means of this natural absorption that the family are aiming the child will pick up the English characteristics they want to cultivate.
Adam noted the tutor needed to be someone who went to "the right kinds of schools – the same kinds of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The educator just has to be the right kind of person, they'll be carrying out things they don't even know they're doing, simply by nature," he said.
Money No Object
The family informed Adam the selected educator should preferably also have familiarity of or passion in equestrian activities, winter sports, artistic pursuits and musical activities so as to shape the child in a broad spectrum of hobbies.
Additionally though, he stated the family wanted the tutor to sign up the child on a range of lessons so the child would be "equestrian training and learning an musical instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's minds, assisting their son develop into a "British gentleman" will lead to achievement and open doors.
"For all the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's certainly a social class indicator," he notes.
Yet, despite all this instruction in "English culture", might the child adopt so-called cultural leaning from the international family he lives with regardless?
"Certainly", replied Adam. "They know this could fail, but they've just taken the perspective of, 'we should try and we'll proceed as early as we can', because the cost of it is not a concern," he stated.
Overly Optimistic
Several in the tutoring industry who have those doubts.
Peter Cui, head and founder of Blue Education, who supplies personal educators, stated that "the journey of becoming bicultural, or indeed, discovering oneself, is something that must be lived into, not engineered."
The expert wrote that he had moved from China to the Britain at the time of seven, and had been brought up knowing and embodying both cultures. He went on to learn at the University of Cambridge.
"The notion that an individual can function as a living vessel of UK identity, an individual who can in some way impart the attributes of a British gentleman onto a infant child, appears naive and impractical," he commented.
"From my perspective, employing a typically British tutor from early childhood will does not instantly achieve the result they want.
"I wasn't provided with such a figure, and nevertheless I have been fortunate enough to live many of the opportunities they desire for their son."
He stated: "The truth is, self-identity cannot be dictated from the outside; it must be selected, and it must come from within."
Acquiring Englishness
Naturally, Britishness is something the CEO hopes can be instructed – and sold.
"I think the reality that the international society regards us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
