"Parents located in north London is looking for an extraordinary and qualified tutor to support their most junior child on his first steps to growing into an British gentleman."
When reading this listing, you might naturally miss the term "initial stages" as just an expression.
Yet, it could be the most significant aspect of this unusual employment listing, as it seeks to find a teacher for a infant.
Hundreds of responses have now been submitted since the unidentified family posted their search for the £180k-a-year tutor, who must be "a uniquely qualified person".
During the past few weeks, the advert has attracted attention in the media, with several wondering why?
Innovative Idea
Adam Caller, CEO and founder of an education consultancy, which is helping the family in their quest, explained that despite early doubt, he found the plan "forward-looking", and "progressive".
When he met the family, he mentioned they appreciated the unusual character of their demand, and how immature their son is.
But, 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 already become established".
What exactly does the family mean by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "comprehensive", he replied. "How you eat, how you speak".
He stated the older sibling had picked up "really subtle, unspoken signals" from the family, and had taken on their cultural ways. The family informed him they hoped to prevent this pattern to happen again with their infant.
The intention: To hire a British tutor, who should speak with standard English accent, to influence the baby from the very start.
Natural Absorption
"A lot of the learning at the outset here is somewhat absorbed naturally," explained the expert.
It's via this subtle influence that the family are aiming the child will adopt the British traits they wish to instil.
Adam noted the tutor must be someone who went to "the right kinds of schools – similar types of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The educator just has to be the suitable individual, they'll be doing things they aren't even aware they're doing, simply by nature," he said.
Expense Not a Factor
The family informed the expert the selected educator should ideally also have understanding of or enthusiasm in horse riding, skiing, artistic pursuits and instrumental training so as to shape the child in a broad spectrum of passions.
Furthermore though, he stated the family hoped the tutor to enrol the child on a selection of courses so the child would be "equestrian training and starting an musical instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's view, guiding their son become a "British gentleman" will lead to accomplishment and provide access.
"Taking into account the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's certainly a class statement," he adds.
However, despite all this tutelage in "English culture", might the child pick up alleged cultural leaning from the multicultural family he lives with in any case?
"Certainly", said the CEO. "The parents know this might not succeed, but they've simply adopted the perspective of, 'why not attempt it and let's go as soon as we can', because the expense of it is not a concern," he said.
Impractical
There are some in the tutoring industry who express these concerns.
Another CEO, head and founder of a tutoring service, who supplies private tutors, commented that "the journey of embracing two identities, or indeed, becoming oneself, is something that must be lived into, not engineered."
Peter explained that he had emigrated from the Far East to the UK at the age of childhood, and had been educated experiencing and practicing two backgrounds. He continued to be educated at a prestigious UK institution.
"The notion that a single person can serve as a living vessel of Britishness, an individual who can possibly transplant the qualities of a English gentleman upon a one-year-old child, strikes me as idealistic and unrealistic," he wrote.
"From my perspective, employing a quintessentially British tutor from infancy will will not necessarily create the goal they want.
"I did not have such a figure, and yet I have been fortunate enough to live numerous of the situations they aspire for their son."
He continued: "The reality is, cultural identity can not be imposed from the outside influences; it must be chosen, and it must be internally driven."
Buying Britishness
Naturally, English culture is something the CEO hopes can be educated – and marketed.
"I think the fact that the international society holds us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
