"A family located in north London is looking for an exceptional and experienced instructor to assist their youngest child on his initial journey to becoming an English gentleman."
Upon seeing this listing, you might easily overlook the term "initial stages" as just a turn of phrase.
But, it might be the crucial aspect of this unusual position posting, as it attempts to hire a tutor for a 12-month-old.
Many of responses have since been received since the anonymous family advertised their request for the £180k-a-year tutor, who must be "someone very special".
In recent few weeks, the post has gained interest in the news, with numerous questioning why?
Forward-Thinking Method
Adam Caller, head and founder of Tutors International, which is helping the family in their hunt, said that in spite of initial skepticism, he considered the idea "far sighted", and "innovative".
When he consulted the family, he noted they appreciated the unusual nature of their demand, and how young their son is.
However, they stated that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had held off until their firstborn was five, and by that age "cultural conditioning had already taken hold".
But what does the family refer to by "cultural bias"?
It's "comprehensive", Adam responded. "The way you eat, how you speak".
He stated the firstborn had absorbed "really subtle, unspoken signals" from the family, and had taken on their cultural ways. The family told him they wished to avoid history to repeat itself with their younger child.
The strategy: To bring in a English tutor, who needs to speak with Received Pronunciation, to guide the baby from the very start.
Natural Absorption
"Much of the learning at the outset here is rather acquired indirectly," said the expert.
It's through this subtle influence that the family are hoping the child will adopt the English characteristics they want to impart.
The consultant explained the tutor had to be an individual who went to "the appropriate educational institutions – similar types of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The instructor simply needs to be the right kind of person, they'll be performing things they may not realize they're doing, just naturally," he commented.
Money No Object
The family told Adam the chosen tutor should preferably also have knowledge of or interest in horse riding, alpine skiing, the arts and musical activities so as to influence the child in a wide range of hobbies.
More than that though, he stated the family hoped the tutor to sign up the child on a variety of courses so the child would be "pony-riding and picking up an tool by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's view, assisting their son grow into a "British gentleman" will result in accomplishment and provide access.
"Taking into account the rights and wrongs of that, because it's certainly a social class indicator," he comments.
But, notwithstanding all this tutelage in "English culture", could the child pick up alleged cultural bias from the multicultural family he resides with regardless?
"Certainly", answered Adam. "The parents understand this could fail, but they've simply adopted the view of, 'we should try and we should start as quickly as we can', because the expense of it is not relevant," he stated.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
Several in the education sector who have these reservations.
Another CEO, chief executive of a tutoring service, who supplies personal educators, stated that "the process of embracing two identities, or indeed, discovering oneself, is something that must be lived into, not engineered."
Peter explained that he had emigrated from China to the Britain at the period of 7 years old, and had been brought up knowing and practicing both cultures. He continued to study at the University of Cambridge.
"The notion that one individual can serve as a embodiment of Britishness, a person who can possibly transplant the attributes of a British gentleman upon a one-year-old child, appears idealistic and impractical," he commented.
"From my perspective, engaging a typically English tutor from babyhood will will not instantly achieve the outcome they hope for.
"I never had that kind of mentor, and yet I have been fortunate enough to live many of the situations they aspire for their son."
He stated: "The reality is, self-identity can not be dictated from the outside; it must be selected, and it must originate internally."
Buying Britishness
Naturally, Britishness is something the CEO thinks can be instructed – and marketed.
"In my view the situation that the global community holds us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
