"Parents residing in the northern part of London is looking for an extraordinary and skilled instructor to guide their youngest child on his initial journey to growing into an English gentleman."
Upon seeing this post, you might naturally skip the phrase "initial stages" as simple a turn of phrase.
But, it might be the most significant part of this unusual job advert, as it seeks to recruit a mentor for a 12-month-old.
Numerous of applications have since been sent in since the anonymous family posted their call for the £180k-a-year tutor, who has to be "someone very special".
During the past few weeks, the post has attracted attention throughout the press, with numerous wondering why?
Forward-Thinking Method
A tutoring expert, head and founder of Tutors International, which is assisting the family in their quest, explained that notwithstanding first skepticism, he considered the plan "far sighted", and "advanced".
When he spoke with the family, he mentioned they understood the unusual aspect of their request, and how immature their son is.
Nevertheless, they stated that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had held off until their older child was five, and by that age "cultural bias had by then set in".
But what does the family mean by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "comprehensive", the expert replied. "How you eat, the manner you speak".
He stated the older sibling had adopted "really subtle, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had assumed their cultural norms. The family explained to him they hoped to prevent the same situation to repeat itself with their new baby.
The strategy: To bring in a English tutor, who must speak with standard English accent, to influence the baby right from the beginning.
Osmotic Learning
"A great deal of the education at the start here is kind of acquired indirectly," said the expert.
It's by means of this osmosis that the family are aiming the child will pick up the British traits they aim to cultivate.
Adam said the tutor must be somebody who went to "prestigious academies – similar types of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The tutor must be the suitable individual, they'll be performing things they don't even know they're doing, effortlessly," he said.
Expense Not a Factor
The family told Adam the successful candidate should ideally also have familiarity of or interest in horse riding, skiing, the arts and musical activities so as to shape the child in a diverse set of passions.
Additionally though, he stated the family desired the tutor to register the child on a variety of courses so the child would be "equestrian training and picking up an musical instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's view, assisting their son become a "English gentleman" will bring about achievement and create opportunities.
"Considering the rights and wrongs of that, because it's definitely a social class indicator," he adds.
Yet, notwithstanding all this tutelage in "English culture", might the child pick up so-called cultural influence from the globally influenced family he resides with regardless?
"Absolutely", replied Adam. "They understand this could fail, but they've merely embraced the attitude of, 'why not attempt it and we'll proceed as soon as we can', because the expense of it is irrelevant," he stated.
Impractical
Several in the private teaching field who have these doubts.
An education leader, chief executive of an educational organization, who also offer private tutors, commented that "the process of adopting dual cultures, or actually, becoming oneself, is something that must be grown into, not manufactured."
He noted that he had moved from China to the UK at the age of seven, and had been brought up knowing and practicing two backgrounds. He continued to learn at the University of Cambridge.
"The notion that an individual can function as a representation of UK identity, someone who can in some way transfer the attributes of a UK sophisticate to a 12-month-old child, strikes me as optimistic and impractical," he stated.
"From my perspective, engaging a typically English tutor from babyhood will will not necessarily create the result they hope for.
"I wasn't provided with such a figure, and yet I have been privileged enough to live several of the opportunities they hope for their son."
He added: "The reality is, personal identity can not be imposed from the outside; it must be chosen, and it must be internally driven."
Purchasing UK Culture
Of course, English culture is something Adam hopes can be taught – and sold.
"I think the fact that the global community holds us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating