"A family based in North London is looking for an extraordinary and skilled tutor to support their youngest child on his initial journey to growing into an English gentleman."
Upon seeing this advertisement, you might readily skip the term "initial stages" as mere figurative language.
However, it could be the crucial element of this unusual position posting, as it attempts to find a tutor for a 12-month-old.
Many of responses have now been received since the unidentified family advertised their call for the £180,000 per year tutor, who has to be "someone very special".
During the past few weeks, the listing has gained attention across the media, with many wondering why?
Innovative Idea
A tutoring expert, chief executive of Tutors International, which is helping the family in their hunt, said that despite initial scepticism, he considered the plan "forward-looking", and "progressive".
When he met the family, he mentioned they understood the unconventional character of their requirement, and how young their son is.
Nevertheless, they stated that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to get a tutor, as they had held off until their older child was five, and by that stage "cultural conditioning had by then taken hold".
What precisely does the family mean by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "everything", Adam responded. "How you eat, the manner you speak".
He said the firstborn had adopted "extremely delicate, body language" from the family, and had taken on their cultural ways. The family informed him they hoped to prevent this pattern to repeat itself with their younger child.
The plan: To hire a British tutor, who should speak with RP, to shape the baby from day one.
Natural Absorption
"A great deal of the education at the beginning here is rather absorbed naturally," explained Adam.
It's through this osmosis that the family are hoping the child will acquire the UK customs they aim to cultivate.
The consultant explained the tutor needed to be someone who went to "prestigious academies – the same kinds of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The tutor must be the right kind of person, they'll be carrying out things they may not realize they're doing, just naturally," he said.
Money No Object
The family informed the expert the selected educator should ideally also have knowledge of or enthusiasm in horse riding, winter sports, artistic pursuits and musical activities so as to inspire the child in a diverse set of hobbies.
More than that though, he said the family wanted the tutor to register the child on a selection of courses so the child would be "equestrian training and picking up an instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's perspective, guiding their son grow into a "English gentleman" will bring about achievement and provide access.
"Considering the rights and wrongs of that, because it's definitely a class statement," he comments.
Yet, despite all this tutelage in "English culture", would the child absorb what is termed cultural influence from the globally influenced family he resides with anyway?
"Absolutely", said the CEO. "The parents know this may not work, but they've simply adopted the attitude of, 'why not attempt it and we should start as early as we can', because the price of it is not a concern," he explained.
Overly Optimistic
Several in the tutoring industry who express those doubts.
Another CEO, head and founder of an educational organization, who also offer personal educators, wrote that "the journey of embracing two identities, or in fact, discovering oneself, is something that must be lived into, not manufactured."
He noted that he had moved from China to the United Kingdom at the time of seven, and had been brought up experiencing and practicing both cultures. He continued to learn at a prestigious UK institution.
"The concept that one individual can function as a representation of English culture, an individual who can possibly impart the attributes of a English gentleman upon a one-year-old child, strikes me as naive and unrealistic," he wrote.
"From my perspective, having a distinctly British tutor from babyhood will will not instantly achieve the goal they want.
"I never had such a figure, and however I have been lucky enough to experience many of the situations they aspire for their son."
He stated: "The fact is, cultural identity should not be dictated from the external environment; it must be embraced, and it must originate internally."
Buying Britishness
Of course, UK identity is something the expert believes can be educated – and sold.
"In my view the fact that the world regards us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
