"Parents residing in the northern part of London is looking for an extraordinary and experienced instructor to guide their youngest child on his initial journey to becoming an English gentleman."
Upon seeing this advertisement, you might naturally miss the term "initial stages" as simple a turn of phrase.
But, it might be the crucial element of this distinctive position posting, as it attempts to find a mentor for a one-year-old.
Hundreds of submissions have since been received since the anonymous family advertised their call for the £180,000 per year tutor, who has to be "a uniquely qualified person".
During the past few weeks, the advert has received notice throughout the press, with many questioning why?
Forward-Thinking Method
A tutoring expert, CEO and founder of an education consultancy, which is helping the family in their hunt, said that despite first doubt, he viewed the plan "visionary", and "advanced".
When he consulted the family, he said they recognized the unusual nature of their request, and how early in age their son is.
However, they clarified that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had held off until their older child was five, and by that age "cultural bias had already become established".
But what did the family mean by "cultural leaning"?
It's "everything", the expert replied. "The way you eat, the way you speak".
He stated the elder child had absorbed "really subtle, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had adopted their cultural norms. The family explained to him they wished to avoid history to repeat itself with their infant.
The strategy: To bring in a English tutor, who needs to speak with standard English accent, to guide the baby from the very start.
Natural Absorption
"Much of the learning at the beginning here is rather osmotic," stated the expert.
It's via this osmosis that the family are hoping the child will pick up the English characteristics they want to instil.
Adam said the tutor had to be somebody who went to "prestigious academies – the same kinds of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The educator must be the right kind of person, they'll be carrying out things they don't even know they're doing, simply by nature," he added.
Expense Not a Factor
The family informed the expert the chosen tutor should ideally also have familiarity of or enthusiasm in riding, alpine skiing, artistic pursuits and musical activities so as to inspire the child in a wide range of passions.
Additionally though, he said the family wanted the tutor to enrol the child on a range of courses so the child would be "pony-riding and learning an instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's perspective, assisting their son become a "English gentleman" will lead to success and create opportunities.
"Taking into account the rights and wrongs of that, because it's definitely a social class indicator," he notes.
But, notwithstanding all this guidance in "UK identity", might the child absorb alleged cultural influence from the international family he resides with in any case?
"Yes", answered he. "The parents know this may not work, but they've simply adopted the view of, 'let's give it a go and we'll proceed as quickly as we can', because the cost of it is irrelevant," he said.
Overly Optimistic
There are some in the education sector who express similar concerns.
An education leader, CEO and founder of a tutoring service, who provides private tutors, stated that "the process of embracing two identities, or actually, forming one's identity, is something that must be lived into, not engineered."
He explained that he had moved from the Far East to the UK at the age of childhood, and had been raised experiencing and living dual heritages. He continued to study at Cambridge University.
"The concept that a single person can function as a representation of English culture, an individual who can in some way transplant the attributes of a English gentleman upon a 12-month-old child, appears optimistic and impractical," he commented.
"From my perspective, having a quintessentially UK tutor from infancy will does not necessarily achieve the outcome they hope for.
"I never had that kind of mentor, and yet I have been lucky enough to experience numerous of the situations they hope for their son."
He added: "The reality is, personal identity cannot be forced from the outside influences; it must be embraced, and it must be internally driven."
Buying Britishness
Certainly, Britishness is something Adam hopes can be educated – and marketed.
"In my view the fact that the global community holds us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
