"A family residing in north London wants to find an extraordinary and qualified instructor to assist their youngest child on his early path to becoming an English gentleman."
Upon seeing this post, you might easily miss the wording "beginning" as just a turn of phrase.
However, it may be the crucial part of this unique employment listing, as it aims to find a teacher for a one-year-old.
Many of responses have now been received since the unidentified family published their request for the highly paid tutor, who has to be "an exceptional individual".
Over the last few weeks, the listing has attracted notice in the press, with numerous wondering why?
Forward-Thinking Method
The CEO, head and founder of an education consultancy, which is helping the family in their hunt, said that despite early scepticism, he viewed the plan "far sighted", and "innovative".
When he consulted the family, he mentioned they appreciated the unconventional aspect of their request, and how young their son is.
However, they stated that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had waited until their older child was five, and by that point "cultural conditioning had already become established".
But what does the family indicate by "cultural leaning"?
It's "everything", he answered. "The manner you eat, the manner you speak".
He stated the elder child had absorbed "extremely delicate, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had assumed their cultural ways. The family explained to the consultant they did not want the same situation to happen again with their infant.
The plan: To engage a British tutor, who should speak with Received Pronunciation, to shape the baby from the very start.
Natural Absorption
"A great deal of the learning at the beginning here is rather acquired indirectly," said the expert.
It's through this subtle influence that the family are hoping the child will pick up the UK customs they want to impart.
He explained the tutor needed to be somebody who went to "the right kinds of schools – similar types of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The instructor just has to be the right kind of person, they'll be doing things they may not realize they're doing, effortlessly," he said.
Expense Not a Factor
The family told the expert the successful candidate should ideally also have understanding of or enthusiasm in riding, winter sports, creative fields and music so as to influence the child in a wide range of passions.
More than that though, he said the family desired the tutor to sign up the child on a selection of lessons so the child would be "equestrian training and learning an instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's minds, helping their son develop into a "British gentleman" will bring about achievement and create opportunities.
"For all the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's certainly a social class indicator," he comments.
But, in spite of all this tutelage in "Britishness", would the child adopt so-called cultural bias from the globally influenced family he resides with regardless?
"Yes", said the CEO. "They understand this could fail, but they've just taken the attitude of, 'we should try and we should start as early as we can', because the expense of it is not relevant," he stated.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
Several in the tutoring industry who share these reservations.
Another CEO, chief executive of an educational organization, who also offer personal educators, wrote that "the journey of embracing two identities, or actually, discovering oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not engineered."
Peter wrote that he had emigrated from Asia to the UK at the time of seven, and had been brought up understanding and practicing two backgrounds. He progressed to be educated at the University of Cambridge.
"The notion that one individual can act as a embodiment of Britishness, an individual who can somehow impart the attributes of a UK sophisticate to a one-year-old child, strikes me as idealistic and unrealistic," he commented.
"In my experience, having a distinctly UK tutor from babyhood will will not instantly produce the goal they hope for.
"I never had that kind of mentor, and nevertheless I have been privileged enough to enjoy several of the experiences they hope for their son."
He added: "The truth is, cultural identity cannot be forced from the external environment; it must be selected, and it must be internally driven."
Buying Britishness
Certainly, Britishness is something Adam hopes can be educated – and commercialized.
"In my view the reality that the international society views us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
