"Parents located in the northern part of London seeks an extraordinary and qualified educator to guide their most junior child on his early path to growing into an British gentleman."
Upon seeing this listing, you might naturally overlook the phrase "initial stages" as simple an expression.
Yet, it may be the most important element of this unusual job advert, as it seeks to find a mentor for a 12-month-old.
Hundreds of submissions have since been submitted since the unnamed family posted their request for the £180k-a-year tutor, who needs to be "an exceptional individual".
During the past few weeks, the listing has gained notice in the press, with numerous asking why?
Forward-Thinking Method
A tutoring expert, CEO and founder of an education consultancy, which is assisting the family in their hunt, stated that despite first scepticism, he found the idea "far sighted", and "innovative".
When he consulted the family, he mentioned they appreciated the unusual character of their request, and how young their son is.
But, they clarified that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had postponed until their firstborn was five, and by that stage "cultural bias had already taken hold".
What exactly does the family indicate by "cultural bias"?
It's "everything", Adam answered. "The way you eat, how you speak".
He said the elder child had absorbed "extremely delicate, unspoken signals" from the family, and had adopted their cultural norms. The family informed Adam they hoped to prevent this pattern to repeat itself with their infant.
The plan: To bring in a UK tutor, who needs to speak with standard English accent, to influence the baby from day one.
Natural Absorption
"A great deal of the development at the beginning here is somewhat absorbed naturally," stated the CEO.
It's through this osmosis that the family are expecting the child will adopt the UK customs they aim to instil.
Adam explained the tutor needed to be somebody who attended "the right kinds of schools – the same kinds of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The tutor simply needs to be the right kind of person, they'll be carrying out things they aren't even aware they're doing, simply by nature," he said.
Expense Not a Factor
The family explained to him the chosen tutor should ideally also have understanding of or interest in horse riding, alpine skiing, creative fields and music so as to shape the child in a wide range of passions.
More than that though, he said the family hoped the tutor to register the child on a range of classes so the child would be "equestrian training and learning an instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's perspective, guiding their son grow into a "UK sophisticate" will bring about accomplishment and create opportunities.
"For all the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's definitely a social class indicator," he comments.
However, notwithstanding all this guidance in "Britishness", could the child pick up so-called cultural influence from the international family he is raised by anyway?
"Absolutely", said Adam. "The family realize this might not succeed, but they've just taken the perspective of, 'why not attempt it and we should start as early as we can', because the price of it is irrelevant," he said.
Impractical
There are some in the education sector who have those reservations.
Peter Cui, head and founder of Blue Education, who supplies individual instructors, stated that "the journey of embracing two identities, or actually, becoming oneself, is something that must be grown into, not manufactured."
He explained that he had emigrated from the Far East to the Britain at the age of 7 years old, and had been raised knowing and practicing both cultures. He progressed to learn at Cambridge University.
"The concept that an individual can act as a representation of English culture, a person who can possibly transplant the attributes of a British gentleman upon a infant child, seems to me optimistic and impractical," he stated.
"In my experience, having a quintessentially UK tutor from early childhood will not instantly achieve the goal they want.
"I wasn't provided with that kind of mentor, and however I have been fortunate enough to live numerous of the situations they hope for their son."
He added: "The truth is, cultural identity should not be imposed from the outside influences; it must be embraced, and it must originate internally."
Buying Britishness
Certainly, UK identity is something the CEO thinks can be taught – and commercialized.
"In my view the fact that the world views us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
