"A family located in North London is looking for an remarkable and experienced educator to guide their most junior child on his initial journey to growing into an English gentleman."
Looking at this post, you might naturally miss the phrase "initial stages" as simple an expression.
But, it may be the most important part of this unusual job advert, as it aims to find a teacher for a one-year-old.
Hundreds of applications have now been sent in since the unidentified family published their request for the highly paid tutor, who needs to be "an exceptional individual".
During the past few weeks, the listing has received attention across the news, with several asking why?
Innovative Idea
The CEO, chief executive of a global tutoring firm, which is helping the family in their hunt, said that despite first doubt, he found the idea "far sighted", and "advanced".
When he consulted the family, he noted they understood the atypical character of their request, and how young their son is.
However, they explained that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to get a tutor, as they had postponed until their elder sibling was five, and by that point "cultural influence had already become established".
What exactly did the family indicate by "cultural leaning"?
It's "all-encompassing", he answered. "The way you eat, the manner you speak".
He explained the elder child had absorbed "very nuanced, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had taken on their cultural habits. The family told Adam they wished to avoid history to recur with their new baby.
The plan: To engage a English tutor, who needs to speak with RP, to shape the baby from the very start.
Subtle Influence
"A lot of the learning at the outset here is kind of absorbed naturally," said Adam.
It's via this natural absorption that the family are aiming the child will pick up the English characteristics they aim to impart.
He explained the tutor must be someone who studied at "the appropriate educational institutions – comparable categories of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The educator just has to be the suitable individual, they'll be doing things they don't even know they're doing, just naturally," he commented.
Cost Not Relevant
The family informed the expert the successful candidate should preferably also have familiarity of or passion in horse riding, alpine skiing, the arts and instrumental training so as to inspire the child in a broad spectrum of hobbies.
Furthermore though, he said the family wanted the tutor to register the child on a selection of courses so the child would be "pony-riding and learning an instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's perspective, guiding their son develop into a "English gentleman" will bring about success and open doors.
"Taking into account the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's definitely a status symbol," he notes.
However, despite all this guidance in "Britishness", could the child adopt what is termed cultural influence from the globally influenced family he resides with anyway?
"Absolutely", said the CEO. "They realize this could fail, but they've simply adopted the perspective of, 'why not attempt it and we should start as early as we can', because the expense of it is irrelevant," he said.
Impractical
There are some in the tutoring industry who express these doubts.
Peter Cui, chief executive of Blue Education, who provides personal educators, commented that "the journey of adopting dual cultures, or indeed, becoming oneself, is something that must be grown into, not engineered."
Peter wrote that he had emigrated from Asia to the Britain at the time of childhood, and had been brought up experiencing and embodying two backgrounds. He went on to learn at Cambridge University.
"The notion that an individual can serve as a representation of Britishness, an individual who can somehow transplant the characteristics of a British gentleman to a one-year-old child, seems to me idealistic and unfeasible," he stated.
"In my experience, employing a distinctly English tutor from infancy will not instantly achieve the goal they hope for.
"I never had that kind of mentor, and yet I have been privileged enough to enjoy several of the experiences they desire for their son."
He continued: "The truth is, cultural identity should not be forced from the outside influences; it must be embraced, and it must originate internally."
Buying Britishness
Naturally, UK identity is something the expert thinks can be educated – and marketed.
"I think the fact that the international society regards us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
