"Parents residing in North London is looking for an exceptional and experienced tutor to guide their smallest child on his early path to becoming an English gentleman."
Upon seeing this listing, you might naturally skip the wording "initial stages" as simple an expression.
But, it may be the most significant aspect of this distinctive job advert, as it seeks to find a teacher for a 12-month-old.
Many of submissions have already been submitted since the unidentified family posted their call for the highly paid tutor, who has to be "an exceptional individual".
Over the last few weeks, the post has attracted interest across the media, with numerous asking why?
Progressive Approach
Adam Caller, head and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is helping the family in their search, stated that despite first scepticism, he found the plan "forward-looking", and "innovative".
When he met the family, he noted they recognized the atypical nature of their demand, and how young their son is.
Nevertheless, they explained that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had postponed until their older child was five, and by that age "cultural bias had already set in".
What exactly does the family indicate by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "comprehensive", he answered. "How you eat, how you speak".
He stated the older sibling had adopted "really subtle, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had adopted their cultural norms. The family explained to the consultant they hoped to prevent the same situation to happen again with their younger child.
The plan: To hire a UK tutor, who needs to speak with standard English accent, to influence the baby from the very start.
Natural Absorption
"Much of the development at the start here is somewhat osmotic," stated the CEO.
It's by means of this subtle influence that the family are hoping the child will acquire the English characteristics they want to impart.
The consultant said the tutor had to be an individual who went to "the right kinds of schools – comparable categories of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The tutor must be the suitable individual, they'll be carrying out things they don't even know they're doing, simply by nature," he commented.
Cost Not Relevant
The family explained to Adam the chosen tutor should ideally also have familiarity of or interest in equestrian activities, winter sports, the arts and music so as to inspire the child in a broad spectrum of hobbies.
Furthermore though, he explained the family hoped the tutor to register the child on a range of lessons so the child would be "pony-riding and picking up an tool by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's perspective, assisting their son become a "British gentleman" will lead to accomplishment and open doors.
"Taking into account the rights and wrongs of that, because it's certainly a class statement," he comments.
However, notwithstanding all this instruction in "Britishness", could the child pick up what is termed cultural leaning from the globally influenced family he is raised by anyway?
"Absolutely", replied Adam. "The family know this could fail, but they've simply adopted the attitude of, 'let's give it a go and let's go as quickly as we can', because the cost of it is not relevant," he stated.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
Several in the tutoring industry who share these concerns.
An education leader, head and founder of a tutoring service, who provides personal educators, wrote that "the development of becoming bicultural, or actually, discovering oneself, is something that must be lived into, not manufactured."
He noted that he had moved from the Far East to the UK at the age of 7 years old, and had been raised understanding and embodying two backgrounds. He went on to learn at the University of Cambridge.
"The concept that an individual can function as a embodiment of UK identity, a person who can possibly transplant the attributes of a UK sophisticate onto a one-year-old child, strikes me as idealistic and unrealistic," he commented.
"Based on my background, engaging a quintessentially UK tutor from babyhood will will not automatically achieve the result they want.
"I did not have such a tutor, and however I have been privileged enough to live many of the experiences they aspire for their son."
He stated: "The reality is, self-identity should not be forced from the outside influences; it must be selected, and it must be internally driven."
Purchasing UK Culture
Certainly, UK identity is something Adam hopes can be educated – and sold.
"I believe the reality that the world views us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
