"Parents located in north London seeks an exceptional and skilled instructor to guide their youngest child on his first steps to growing into an British gentleman."
Upon seeing this post, you might naturally skip the term "initial stages" as mere a turn of phrase.
Yet, it may be the most significant part of this unique position posting, as it attempts to hire a mentor for a infant.
Hundreds of applications have now been sent in since the unnamed family published their request for the £180,000 per year tutor, who has to be "someone very special".
During the past few weeks, the advert has received notice throughout the media, with many wondering why?
Innovative Idea
The CEO, head and founder of Tutors International, which is assisting the family in their search, stated that notwithstanding initial scepticism, he found the concept "visionary", and "innovative".
When he spoke with the family, he mentioned they understood the atypical aspect of their demand, and how young their son is.
But, they stated that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had postponed until their elder sibling was five, and by that point "cultural conditioning had by then taken hold".
What precisely did the family indicate by "cultural leaning"?
It's "comprehensive", the expert answered. "How you eat, the way you speak".
He said the older sibling had adopted "really subtle, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had assumed their cultural habits. The family informed Adam they did not want the same situation to repeat itself with their younger child.
The intention: To hire a UK tutor, who must speak with RP, to shape the baby right from the beginning.
Subtle Influence
"A great deal of the education at the beginning here is rather osmotic," explained the CEO.
It's via this osmosis that the family are expecting the child will acquire the British traits they aim to instil.
The consultant said the tutor had to be somebody who went to "the right kinds of schools – similar types of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The tutor just has to be the right kind of person, they'll be carrying out things they aren't even aware they're doing, just naturally," he said.
Expense Not a Factor
The family told the expert the selected educator should preferably also have familiarity of or interest in riding, winter sports, the arts and music so as to shape the child in a broad spectrum of passions.
More than that though, he stated the family wanted the tutor to register the child on a variety of courses 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 perspective, guiding their son become a "English gentleman" will bring about success and open doors.
"Taking into account the rights and wrongs of that, because it's definitely a social class indicator," he notes.
However, notwithstanding all this instruction in "English culture", would the child absorb alleged cultural influence from the multicultural family he resides with anyway?
"Yes", said Adam. "The parents realize this could fail, but they've merely embraced the view of, 'let's give it a go and we should start as soon as we can', because the price of it is not relevant," he said.
Overly Optimistic
A number of in the education sector who have these doubts.
Peter Cui, chief executive of Blue Education, who supplies private tutors, commented that "the development of becoming bicultural, or in fact, discovering oneself, is something that must be grown into, not manufactured."
The expert explained that he had moved from China to the UK at the age of seven, and had been brought up knowing and living dual heritages. He progressed to study at Cambridge University.
"The idea that one individual can function as a embodiment of UK identity, an individual who can possibly transfer the characteristics of a UK sophisticate to a one-year-old child, strikes me as idealistic and unrealistic," he commented.
"From my perspective, employing a distinctly English tutor from infancy will does not automatically achieve the result they want.
"I wasn't provided with such a figure, and however I have been lucky enough to live several of the opportunities they desire for their son."
He added: "The fact is, self-identity cannot be dictated from the outside; it must be selected, and it must come from within."
Purchasing UK Culture
Naturally, Britishness is something Adam believes can be instructed – and sold.
"I think the reality that the world views us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating