"A family based in North London seeks an exceptional and skilled tutor to assist their most junior child on his early path to turning into an British gentleman."
Looking at this post, you might naturally overlook the wording "initial stages" as just a turn of phrase.
Yet, it might be the crucial aspect of this unusual employment listing, as it attempts to recruit a mentor for a 12-month-old.
Hundreds of submissions have since been submitted since the unnamed family posted their request for the £180,000 per year tutor, who must be "someone very special".
Over the last few weeks, the advert has gained notice throughout the news, with several asking why?
Innovative Idea
A tutoring expert, head and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is helping the family in their quest, stated that notwithstanding first skepticism, he considered the idea "forward-looking", and "innovative".
When he consulted the family, he said they appreciated the unusual aspect of their requirement, and how immature their son is.
But, they clarified that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had waited until their elder sibling was five, and by that age "cultural influence had by then taken hold".
What exactly does the family mean by "cultural leaning"?
It's "all-encompassing", the expert replied. "How you eat, the manner you speak".
He stated the older sibling had adopted "very nuanced, body language" from the family, and had assumed their cultural norms. The family explained to him they did not want history to recur with their younger child.
The plan: To engage a UK tutor, who should speak with RP, to influence the baby right from the beginning.
Natural Absorption
"A great deal of the learning at the beginning here is somewhat acquired indirectly," stated Adam.
It's by means of this osmosis that the family are hoping the child will acquire the British traits they want to instil.
The consultant said the tutor had to be someone who attended "prestigious academies – similar types of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The instructor just has to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be performing things they don't even know they're doing, simply by nature," he added.
Money No Object
The family told Adam the chosen tutor should preferably also have familiarity of or enthusiasm in riding, winter sports, creative fields and music so as to inspire the child in a diverse set of hobbies.
Furthermore though, he said the family hoped the tutor to enrol the child on a selection of lessons so the child would be "horseback riding and learning an musical instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's view, helping their son become a "UK sophisticate" will lead to accomplishment and create opportunities.
"Considering the rights and wrongs of that, because it's undoubtedly a status symbol," he comments.
But, notwithstanding all this instruction in "UK identity", would the child adopt what is termed cultural influence from the international family he lives with regardless?
"Absolutely", answered the CEO. "The family realize this may not work, but they've simply adopted the perspective of, 'why not attempt it and we'll proceed as quickly as we can', because the cost of it is not relevant," he explained.
Impractical
Several in the tutoring industry who have these concerns.
Another CEO, head and founder of Blue Education, who provides private tutors, commented that "the journey of embracing two identities, or actually, discovering oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not manufactured."
Peter noted that he had moved from China to the UK at the age of childhood, and had been raised understanding and practicing both cultures. He continued to be educated at the University of Cambridge.
"The concept that an individual can act as a representation of Britishness, someone who can in some way transplant the attributes of a British gentleman upon a 12-month-old child, seems to me naive and unrealistic," he commented.
"Based on my background, employing a distinctly British tutor from babyhood will does not instantly create the outcome they want.
"I wasn't provided with such a figure, and however I have been lucky enough to live numerous of the situations they aspire for their son."
He stated: "The reality is, self-identity cannot be forced from the outside influences; it must be embraced, and it must be internally driven."
Acquiring Englishness
Certainly, Britishness is something the expert believes can be instructed – and marketed.
"I believe the situation that the international society holds us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
