"A household located in north London wants to find an extraordinary and experienced educator to assist their youngest child on his first steps to turning into an British gentleman."
Looking at this listing, you might easily miss the wording "initial stages" as mere figurative language.
Yet, it could be the crucial element of this unusual employment listing, as it seeks to find a mentor for a infant.
Hundreds of submissions have since been received since the unnamed family posted their search for the £180k-a-year tutor, who must be "someone very special".
Over the last few weeks, the listing has gained attention in the media, with many wondering why?
Progressive Approach
Adam Caller, chief executive of Tutors International, which is supporting the family in their hunt, explained that in spite of first scepticism, he viewed the plan "forward-looking", and "innovative".
When he spoke with the family, he said they understood the atypical nature of their request, and how immature their son is.
However, they clarified that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to get a tutor, as they had postponed until their older child was five, and by that point "cultural influence had already set in".
But what did the family mean by "cultural leaning"?
It's "all-encompassing", he answered. "The way you eat, the manner you speak".
He said the firstborn had adopted "extremely delicate, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had assumed their cultural habits. The family informed Adam they wished to avoid history to repeat itself with their new baby.
The plan: To bring in a UK tutor, who needs to speak with Received Pronunciation, to shape the baby from the very start.
Natural Absorption
"A lot of the learning at the outset here is rather acquired indirectly," stated the CEO.
It's via this subtle influence that the family are aiming the child will pick up the English characteristics they aim to impart.
He explained the tutor must be someone who studied at "the appropriate educational institutions – similar types of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The instructor just has to be the suitable individual, they'll be performing things they aren't even aware they're doing, simply by nature," he added.
Money No Object
The family told the expert the selected educator should ideally also have understanding of or interest in riding, skiing, the arts and musical activities so as to shape the child in a broad spectrum of passions.
More than that though, he explained the family hoped the tutor to enrol the child on a range of classes so the child would be "horseback riding and starting an tool by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's perspective, assisting their son become a "UK sophisticate" will bring about accomplishment and create opportunities.
"Taking into account the pros and cons of that, because it's definitely a class statement," he comments.
Yet, in spite of all this instruction in "English culture", would the child adopt so-called cultural leaning from the globally influenced family he lives with in any case?
"Yes", said the CEO. "The parents realize this could fail, but they've simply adopted the view of, 'let's give it a go and let's go as quickly as we can', because the expense of it is not relevant," he stated.
Overly Optimistic
There are some in the education sector who have these reservations.
Another CEO, CEO and founder of Blue Education, who provides personal educators, commented that "the development of becoming bicultural, or actually, becoming oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not designed."
He wrote that he had emigrated from China to the United Kingdom at the time of seven, and had been educated understanding and embodying dual heritages. He progressed to be educated at Cambridge University.
"The notion that one individual can act as a representation of Britishness, a person who can possibly transplant the attributes of a British gentleman onto a 12-month-old child, appears idealistic and unfeasible," he commented.
"From my perspective, having a quintessentially English tutor from early childhood will does not instantly achieve the goal they want.
"I wasn't provided with that kind of mentor, and however I have been fortunate enough to experience several of the experiences they desire for their son."
He added: "The fact is, self-identity should not be dictated from the outside influences; it must be embraced, and it must originate internally."
Buying Britishness
Certainly, Britishness is something Adam believes can be instructed – and marketed.
"I think the situation that the global community regards us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
