"A family residing in North London wants to find an exceptional and experienced instructor to guide their smallest child on his initial journey to turning into an English gentleman."
Looking at this listing, you might easily miss the wording "beginning" as simple a turn of phrase.
Yet, it may be the most important part of this unique job advert, as it attempts to hire a tutor for a infant.
Hundreds of applications have now been sent in since the anonymous family published their search for the £180k-a-year tutor, who must be "someone very special".
In recent few weeks, the listing has attracted attention across the media, with numerous questioning why?
Innovative Idea
A tutoring expert, head and founder of Tutors International, which is supporting the family in their quest, said that despite initial doubt, he viewed the concept "visionary", and "progressive".
When he consulted the family, he mentioned they recognized the unconventional character of their demand, and how immature their son is.
Nevertheless, they clarified that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had held off until their firstborn was five, and by that stage "cultural bias had already become established".
What exactly did the family refer to by "cultural leaning"?
It's "all-encompassing", Adam replied. "How you eat, the way you speak".
He explained the elder child had absorbed "really subtle, body language" from the family, and had adopted their cultural ways. The family informed Adam they wished to avoid this pattern to repeat itself with their new baby.
The strategy: To bring in a British tutor, who needs to speak with Received Pronunciation, to guide the baby from the very start.
Osmotic Learning
"Much of the development at the start here is rather acquired indirectly," stated Adam.
It's via this osmosis that the family are expecting the child will pick up the British traits they want to cultivate.
The consultant explained the tutor must be someone who attended "prestigious academies – similar types of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The instructor simply needs to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be performing things they aren't even aware they're doing, simply by nature," he said.
Cost Not Relevant
The family informed the expert the chosen tutor should preferably also have knowledge of or interest in horse riding, skiing, the arts and musical activities so as to inspire the child in a diverse set of interests.
Furthermore though, he stated the family hoped the tutor to register the child on a range of classes so the child would be "pony-riding and picking up an musical instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's minds, assisting their son develop into a "UK sophisticate" will lead to achievement and create opportunities.
"Taking into account the pros and cons of that, because it's certainly a status symbol," he adds.
But, despite all this guidance in "Britishness", would the child adopt so-called cultural influence from the globally influenced family he lives with in any case?
"Absolutely", replied he. "The family realize this may not work, but they've simply adopted the view of, 'let's give it a go and we should start as soon as we can', because the price of it is irrelevant," he explained.
Impractical
There are some in the tutoring industry who have these doubts.
Peter Cui, CEO and founder of a tutoring service, who also offer personal educators, commented that "the development of embracing two identities, or actually, forming one's identity, is something that must be grown into, not designed."
He explained that he had relocated from the Far East to the United Kingdom at the time of seven, and had been raised knowing and practicing both cultures. He continued to be educated at a prestigious UK institution.
"The idea that a single person can function as a representation of English culture, someone who can somehow transfer the qualities of a British gentleman to a 12-month-old child, seems to me naive and impractical," he wrote.
"In my experience, employing a typically British tutor from babyhood will does not necessarily create the result they want.
"I did not have that kind of mentor, and however I have been privileged enough to enjoy several of the opportunities they hope for their son."
He stated: "The reality is, cultural identity should not be dictated from the outside influences; it must be chosen, and it must come from within."
Acquiring Englishness
Naturally, English culture is something the CEO thinks can be educated – and sold.
"I believe the reality that the world holds us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
