"A household located in the northern part of London seeks an exceptional and qualified tutor to support their smallest child on his first steps to becoming an British gentleman."
Looking at this listing, you might readily overlook the phrase "initial stages" as simple figurative language.
Yet, it might be the crucial aspect of this unusual job advert, as it aims to hire a teacher for a infant.
Many of responses have already been received since the unnamed family posted their call for the highly paid tutor, who needs to be "an exceptional individual".
Over the last few weeks, the listing has received attention across the news, with several wondering why?
Forward-Thinking Method
The CEO, head and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is assisting the family in their quest, stated that in spite of first scepticism, he considered the idea "far sighted", and "progressive".
When he met the family, he said they understood the unconventional nature of their requirement, and how early in age their son is.
However, they clarified that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had postponed until their firstborn was five, and by that stage "cultural bias had already set in".
But what does the family refer to by "cultural bias"?
It's "all-encompassing", he answered. "How you eat, the manner you speak".
He stated the elder child had adopted "really subtle, body language" from the family, and had assumed their cultural habits. The family explained to Adam they did not want this pattern to happen again with their new baby.
The strategy: To hire a English tutor, who must speak with standard English accent, to shape the baby from day one.
Subtle Influence
"A great deal of the education at the outset here is kind of osmotic," said Adam.
It's by means of this osmosis that the family are expecting the child will pick up the English characteristics they wish to cultivate.
Adam explained the tutor must be somebody who studied at "the appropriate educational institutions – comparable categories of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The educator just has to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be performing things they may not realize they're doing, effortlessly," he added.
Money No Object
The family told him the successful candidate should preferably also have understanding of or interest in horse riding, skiing, creative fields and music so as to shape the child in a wide range of interests.
More than that though, he explained the family desired the tutor to register the child on a selection of courses so the child would be "horseback riding and learning an instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's perspective, helping their son grow into a "English gentleman" will result in achievement and provide access.
"Considering the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's undoubtedly a status symbol," he adds.
But, notwithstanding all this guidance in "Britishness", could the child pick up what is termed cultural bias from the international family he lives with anyway?
"Yes", answered the CEO. "The family realize this may not work, but they've just taken the attitude of, 'let's give it a go and let's go as soon as we can', because the expense of it is irrelevant," he said.
Impractical
There are some in the tutoring industry who share similar concerns.
Peter Cui, CEO and founder of an educational organization, who supplies individual instructors, stated that "the development of becoming bicultural, or actually, becoming oneself, is something that must be lived into, not manufactured."
The expert noted that he had relocated from China to the UK at the age of seven, and had been educated understanding and practicing dual heritages. He progressed to be educated at a prestigious UK institution.
"The idea that one individual can serve as a representation of Britishness, a person who can possibly impart the characteristics of a English gentleman to a infant child, seems to me optimistic and unrealistic," he commented.
"In my experience, engaging a typically UK tutor from infancy will not necessarily achieve the outcome they want.
"I did not have that kind of mentor, and yet I have been fortunate enough to experience numerous of the situations they hope for their son."
He stated: "The reality is, self-identity should not be dictated from the outside; it must be chosen, and it must be internally driven."
Buying Britishness
Certainly, English culture is something the CEO believes can be taught – and sold.
"I think the fact that the international society holds us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
