"Parents located in the northern part of London is looking for an remarkable and skilled tutor to support their youngest child on his first steps to becoming an British gentleman."
When reading this advertisement, you might readily skip the term "initial stages" as mere a turn of phrase.
Yet, it might be the most important element of this distinctive employment listing, as it attempts to find a tutor for a 12-month-old.
Many of submissions have now been sent in since the anonymous family published their request for the £180,000 per year tutor, who needs to be "someone very special".
Over the last few weeks, the post has attracted attention in the news, with many questioning why?
Progressive Approach
Adam Caller, chief executive of Tutors International, which is supporting the family in their quest, said that notwithstanding first doubt, he considered the plan "forward-looking", and "innovative".
When he spoke with the family, he mentioned they recognized the unusual nature of their request, and how young their son is.
Nevertheless, they stated that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had held off until their older child was five, and by that age "cultural influence had by then taken hold".
What exactly does the family mean by "cultural bias"?
It's "all-encompassing", the expert answered. "How you eat, the manner you speak".
He said the elder child had adopted "very nuanced, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had adopted their cultural ways. The family informed Adam they hoped to prevent the same situation to recur with their new baby.
The plan: To bring in a English tutor, who must speak with Received Pronunciation, to influence the baby from the very start.
Subtle Influence
"Much of the learning at the outset here is kind of acquired indirectly," said the CEO.
It's via this natural absorption that the family are aiming the child will adopt the British traits they want to instil.
He said the tutor must be someone who attended "the right kinds of schools – comparable categories of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The educator just has to be the suitable individual, they'll be carrying out things they aren't even aware they're doing, simply by nature," he added.
Cost Not Relevant
The family told Adam the chosen tutor should preferably also have understanding of or interest in riding, winter sports, artistic pursuits and music so as to inspire the child in a wide range of hobbies.
More than that though, he said the family wanted the tutor to enrol the child on a variety of classes so the child would be "equestrian training and starting an instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's minds, assisting their son become a "UK sophisticate" will result in success and open doors.
"Considering the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's certainly a status symbol," he comments.
However, despite all this tutelage in "UK identity", would the child absorb what is termed cultural leaning from the multicultural family he is raised by in any case?
"Yes", said the CEO. "The parents realize this could fail, but they've merely embraced the attitude of, 'let's give it a go and let's go as early as we can', because the expense of it is not a concern," he explained.
Impractical
A number of in the education sector who share similar concerns.
An education leader, chief executive of Blue Education, who provides individual instructors, stated that "the development of adopting dual cultures, or in fact, becoming oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not engineered."
The expert noted that he had relocated from China to the Britain at the period of childhood, and had been brought up experiencing and living both cultures. He went on to be educated at a prestigious UK institution.
"The concept that one individual can serve as a living vessel of UK identity, an individual who can in some way impart the characteristics of a English gentleman to a infant child, appears optimistic and unrealistic," he commented.
"From my perspective, employing a quintessentially British tutor from early childhood will does not instantly achieve the result they desire.
"I did not have that kind of mentor, and however I have been privileged enough to live many of the opportunities they aspire for their son."
He continued: "The fact is, cultural identity can not be dictated from the outside; it must be embraced, and it must come from within."
Buying Britishness
Naturally, English culture is something Adam believes can be instructed – and commercialized.
"I think the situation that the world views us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating