"A household based in North London seeks an exceptional and qualified tutor to guide their smallest child on his early path to becoming an English gentleman."
When reading this listing, you might easily overlook the phrase "initial stages" as just an expression.
However, it may be the most important aspect of this distinctive position posting, as it seeks to recruit a mentor for a 12-month-old.
Hundreds of submissions have now been sent in since the unnamed family published their request for the £180k-a-year tutor, who needs to be "someone very special".
Over the last few weeks, the post has received attention across the media, with several questioning why?
Forward-Thinking Method
A tutoring expert, chief executive of Tutors International, which is supporting the family in their search, said that despite initial doubt, he viewed the plan "forward-looking", and "innovative".
When he consulted the family, he noted they understood the atypical character of their requirement, and how young their son is.
But, they clarified that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had held off until their firstborn was five, and by that age "cultural bias had by then taken hold".
What precisely does the family mean by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "all-encompassing", Adam replied. "The way you eat, the way you speak".
He said the firstborn had adopted "extremely delicate, unspoken signals" from the family, and had taken on their cultural ways. The family told the consultant they did not want this pattern to happen again with their infant.
The plan: To bring in a British tutor, who needs to speak with standard English accent, to influence the baby right from the beginning.
Subtle Influence
"A great deal of the development at the outset here is somewhat osmotic," stated the expert.
It's by means of this natural absorption that the family are expecting the child will pick up the British traits they want to cultivate.
Adam explained the tutor had to be someone who studied at "the right kinds of schools – the same kinds of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The educator simply needs to be the right kind of person, they'll be carrying out things they aren't even aware they're doing, simply by nature," he commented.
Expense Not a Factor
The family explained to the expert the chosen tutor should ideally also have familiarity of or interest in horse riding, skiing, creative fields and instrumental training so as to shape the child in a diverse set of passions.
Furthermore though, he explained the family hoped the tutor to register the child on a range of lessons so the child would be "equestrian training and learning an tool by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's view, assisting their son become a "UK sophisticate" will lead to accomplishment and create opportunities.
"Considering the pros and cons of that, because it's undoubtedly a class statement," he notes.
Yet, in spite of all this instruction in "UK identity", would the child absorb alleged cultural influence from the international family he is raised by in any case?
"Yes", said he. "The parents understand this may not work, but they've just taken the perspective of, 'let's give it a go and we should start as quickly as we can', because the cost of it is not relevant," he stated.
Impractical
A number of in the tutoring industry who have these doubts.
Peter Cui, head and founder of a tutoring service, who supplies private tutors, wrote that "the development of embracing two identities, or indeed, becoming oneself, is something that must be lived into, not designed."
Peter wrote that he had moved from Asia to the Britain at the time of seven, and had been raised experiencing and practicing dual heritages. He progressed to be educated at a prestigious UK institution.
"The concept that an individual can serve as a living vessel of UK identity, a person who can possibly impart the attributes of a English gentleman upon a infant child, strikes me as idealistic and unfeasible," he stated.
"In my experience, engaging a typically English tutor from early childhood will not instantly create the outcome they desire.
"I wasn't provided with such a tutor, and nevertheless I have been fortunate enough to enjoy several of the experiences they hope for their son."
He continued: "The reality is, personal identity should not be imposed from the external environment; it must be embraced, and it must come from within."
Purchasing UK Culture
Of course, UK identity is something Adam thinks can be instructed – and sold.
"I think the reality that the world regards us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
