"A family based in north London is looking for an exceptional and skilled tutor to guide their most junior child on his early path to becoming an English gentleman."
Upon seeing this post, you might easily overlook the term "initial stages" as just an expression.
Yet, it might be the most significant element of this distinctive employment listing, as it seeks to hire a tutor for a infant.
Hundreds of submissions have already been received since the unnamed family posted their request for the £180k-a-year tutor, who needs to be "someone very special".
During the past few weeks, the advert has gained interest throughout the press, with numerous questioning why?
Forward-Thinking Method
The CEO, chief executive of Tutors International, which is helping the family in their quest, said that notwithstanding early scepticism, he viewed the concept "visionary", and "advanced".
When he met the family, he noted they appreciated the unconventional aspect of their requirement, and how immature their son is.
However, they explained that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had held off until their elder sibling was five, and by that point "cultural bias had by then set in".
What exactly does the family mean by "cultural bias"?
It's "everything", he replied. "The way you eat, the manner you speak".
He said the elder child had adopted "very nuanced, body language" from the family, and had taken on their cultural norms. The family told him they hoped to prevent history to repeat itself with their infant.
The strategy: To bring in a UK tutor, who needs to speak with standard English accent, to influence the baby from day one.
Subtle Influence
"A great deal of the learning at the beginning here is somewhat absorbed naturally," stated the CEO.
It's by means of this natural absorption that the family are hoping the child will adopt the British traits they aim to impart.
The consultant said the tutor needed to be an individual who attended "prestigious academies – comparable categories of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The educator must be the right kind of person, they'll be carrying out things they don't even know they're doing, simply by nature," he commented.
Expense Not a Factor
The family explained to him the chosen tutor should ideally also have familiarity of or interest in horse riding, alpine skiing, creative fields and music so as to shape the child in a wide range of hobbies.
More than that though, he said the family wanted the tutor to register the child on a variety of lessons so the child would be "horseback riding and starting an instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's view, guiding their son develop into a "UK sophisticate" will lead to success and open doors.
"Taking into account the rights and wrongs of that, because it's undoubtedly a social class indicator," he notes.
However, in spite of all this guidance in "Britishness", could the child pick up so-called cultural bias from the globally influenced family he lives with anyway?
"Yes", answered the CEO. "The family know this could fail, but they've simply adopted the perspective of, 'we should try and let's go as soon as we can', because the cost of it is not relevant," he explained.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
There are some in the tutoring industry who have similar doubts.
Peter Cui, CEO and founder of Blue Education, who also offer individual instructors, stated that "the process of embracing two identities, or in fact, forming one's identity, is something that must be experienced personally, not designed."
Peter explained that he had emigrated from Asia to the United Kingdom at the age of 7 years old, and had been brought up knowing and practicing two backgrounds. He continued to study at Cambridge University.
"The idea that an individual can serve as a representation of Britishness, an individual who can somehow transfer the qualities of a UK sophisticate to a infant child, seems to me idealistic and unrealistic," he stated.
"Based on my background, engaging a typically British tutor from early childhood will does not necessarily produce the goal they hope for.
"I did not have such a tutor, and nevertheless I have been privileged enough to enjoy numerous of the situations they hope for their son."
He added: "The truth is, cultural identity should not be dictated from the external environment; it must be embraced, and it must come from within."
Buying Britishness
Certainly, UK identity is something Adam hopes can be instructed – and sold.
"I think the reality that the world views us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
