"A family based in North London is looking for an remarkable and experienced educator to support their most junior child on his first steps to turning into an English gentleman."
Looking at this post, you might naturally miss the phrase "initial stages" as just an expression.
However, it may be the most significant part of this unique job advert, as it aims to hire a teacher for a 12-month-old.
Many of submissions have since been sent in since the unnamed family posted their request for the £180k-a-year tutor, who must be "someone very special".
During the past few weeks, the listing has attracted notice across the press, with numerous asking why?
Forward-Thinking Method
A tutoring expert, CEO and founder of an education consultancy, which is assisting the family in their quest, said that notwithstanding first scepticism, he considered the plan "visionary", and "advanced".
When he met the family, he noted they appreciated the unusual character of their demand, and how early in age their son is.
Nevertheless, they stated that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to get a tutor, as they had postponed until their older child was five, and by that age "cultural influence had already become established".
But what does the family indicate by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "comprehensive", he responded. "The manner you eat, how you speak".
He stated the elder child had picked up "really subtle, unspoken signals" from the family, and had assumed their cultural norms. The family told the consultant they hoped to prevent this pattern to recur with their infant.
The plan: To hire a British tutor, who must speak with Received Pronunciation, to influence the baby right from the beginning.
Subtle Influence
"A great deal of the learning at the outset here is rather osmotic," said the expert.
It's through this osmosis that the family are expecting the child will acquire the English characteristics they wish to instil.
He explained the tutor needed to 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 must be the right kind of person, they'll be doing things they may not realize they're doing, just naturally," he said.
Money No Object
The family explained to the expert the chosen tutor should ideally also have understanding of or passion in horse riding, skiing, artistic pursuits and music so as to shape the child in a wide range of interests.
More than that though, he stated the family desired the tutor to enrol the child on a selection of lessons so the child would be "equestrian training and starting an instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's view, helping their son develop into a "UK sophisticate" will result in achievement and provide access.
"Taking into account the rights and wrongs of that, because it's certainly a status symbol," he comments.
However, despite all this tutelage in "English culture", could the child absorb so-called cultural influence from the globally influenced family he is raised by anyway?
"Certainly", said the CEO. "They realize this may not work, but they've merely embraced the perspective of, 'let's give it a go and we should start as early as we can', because the price of it is not a concern," he said.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
Several in the education sector who express similar doubts.
Peter Cui, CEO and founder of a tutoring service, who also offer personal educators, stated that "the process of adopting dual cultures, or indeed, forming one's identity, is something that must be lived into, not manufactured."
He explained that he had relocated from Asia to the UK at the age of seven, and had been raised experiencing and embodying dual heritages. He went on to study at a prestigious UK institution.
"The notion that an individual can serve as a embodiment of English culture, an individual who can in some way transplant the attributes of a English gentleman to a infant child, seems to me idealistic and unrealistic," he commented.
"From my perspective, employing a typically British tutor from early childhood will will not automatically create the goal they want.
"I never had such a tutor, and nevertheless I have been privileged enough to experience several of the situations they desire for their son."
He continued: "The reality is, personal identity should not be dictated from the external environment; it must be chosen, and it must come from within."
Acquiring Englishness
Certainly, UK identity is something Adam thinks can be instructed – and marketed.
"I think the fact that the world regards us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
