"A family residing in north London seeks an remarkable and qualified instructor to assist their most junior child on his initial journey to becoming an English gentleman."
Looking at this listing, you might readily overlook the wording "initial stages" as simple an expression.
But, it could be the most important part of this unusual employment listing, as it seeks to find a tutor for a 12-month-old.
Many of responses have already been received since the unidentified family advertised their call for the £180,000 per year tutor, who needs to be "a uniquely qualified person".
Over the last few weeks, the post has attracted attention in the media, with many asking why?
Innovative Idea
Adam Caller, chief executive of a global tutoring firm, which is helping the family in their search, explained that notwithstanding initial scepticism, he viewed the concept "far sighted", and "advanced".
When he spoke with the family, he noted they appreciated the unconventional nature of their requirement, and how early in age their son is.
However, they stated that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had held off until their firstborn was five, and by that age "cultural bias had already taken hold".
But what does the family mean by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "comprehensive", he responded. "How you eat, how you speak".
He stated the elder child had picked up "very nuanced, body language" from the family, and had adopted their cultural habits. The family informed him they wished to avoid this pattern to recur with their new baby.
The strategy: To bring in a English tutor, who should speak with RP, to shape the baby right from the beginning.
Natural Absorption
"A great deal of the development at the outset here is kind of osmotic," explained the expert.
It's via this osmosis that the family are expecting the child will pick up the English characteristics they wish to instil.
He said the tutor had to be somebody who went to "the appropriate educational institutions – similar types of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The instructor must be the appropriate candidate, they'll be performing things they may not realize they're doing, effortlessly," he commented.
Cost Not Relevant
The family explained to Adam the successful candidate should ideally also have familiarity of or interest in riding, skiing, the arts and music so as to inspire the child in a broad spectrum of hobbies.
Furthermore though, he stated the family wanted the tutor to enrol the child on a variety of courses so the child would be "horseback riding and starting an instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's view, assisting their son grow into a "English gentleman" will lead to achievement and create opportunities.
"Taking into account the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's undoubtedly a status symbol," he comments.
Yet, despite all this tutelage in "UK identity", would the child adopt so-called cultural bias from the international family he lives with anyway?
"Certainly", said Adam. "The family understand this may not work, but they've merely embraced the attitude of, 'why not attempt it and we'll proceed as quickly as we can', because the expense of it is irrelevant," he stated.
Impractical
A number of in the education sector who have those doubts.
An education leader, chief executive of an educational organization, who supplies private tutors, stated that "the development of adopting dual cultures, or indeed, discovering oneself, is something that must be lived into, not manufactured."
The expert explained that he had relocated from Asia to the Britain at the time of childhood, and had been educated understanding and living both cultures. He continued to learn at the University of Cambridge.
"The notion that one individual can act as a living vessel of Britishness, an individual who can in some way transfer the attributes of a English gentleman upon a one-year-old child, strikes me as optimistic and impractical," he commented.
"Based on my background, engaging a distinctly UK tutor from infancy will not instantly produce the outcome they hope for.
"I wasn't provided with such a figure, and nevertheless I have been lucky enough to live several of the opportunities they aspire for their son."
He added: "The reality is, self-identity should not be forced from the outside; it must be embraced, and it must come from within."
Acquiring Englishness
Of course, English culture is something the expert believes can be instructed – and commercialized.
"In my view the reality that the global community regards us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
