"Parents based in north London is looking for an exceptional and qualified tutor to assist their most junior child on his initial journey to becoming an English gentleman."
Looking at this listing, you might easily miss the term "beginning" as just figurative language.
Yet, it might be the most important aspect of this unusual job advert, as it seeks to hire a teacher for a 12-month-old.
Many of applications have since been sent in since the unnamed family published their request for the £180k-a-year tutor, who must be "a uniquely qualified person".
During the past few weeks, the post has gained notice throughout the news, with several asking why?
Progressive Approach
A tutoring expert, CEO and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is assisting the family in their search, explained that despite first doubt, he considered the plan "visionary", and "progressive".
When he consulted the family, he noted they appreciated the atypical nature of their requirement, and how immature their son is.
However, they clarified that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to get a tutor, as they had postponed until their elder sibling was five, and by that point "cultural conditioning had already set in".
But what did the family mean by "cultural leaning"?
It's "everything", Adam answered. "How you eat, the manner you speak".
He explained the elder child had adopted "extremely delicate, unspoken signals" from the family, and had adopted their cultural ways. The family told the consultant they hoped to prevent this pattern to recur with their younger child.
The intention: To engage a UK tutor, who must speak with RP, to influence the baby from the very start.
Natural Absorption
"Much of the development at the start here is kind of absorbed naturally," explained Adam.
It's by means of this natural absorption that the family are expecting the child will pick up the British traits they aim to impart.
The consultant said the tutor needed to be an individual who studied at "the right kinds of schools – the same kinds of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The tutor must be the appropriate candidate, they'll be carrying out things they don't even know they're doing, just naturally," he commented.
Money No Object
The family told him the chosen tutor should ideally also have knowledge of or interest in horse riding, skiing, artistic pursuits and musical activities so as to influence the child in a broad spectrum of hobbies.
Furthermore 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 picking up an instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's minds, guiding their son grow into a "UK sophisticate" will lead to achievement and create opportunities.
"For all the pros and cons of that, because it's certainly a status symbol," he comments.
But, despite all this guidance in "UK identity", would the child absorb alleged cultural bias from the globally influenced family he is raised by regardless?
"Absolutely", replied Adam. "The family know this could fail, but they've merely embraced the view of, 'why not attempt it and let's go as early as we can', because the price of it is irrelevant," he said.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
There are some in the private teaching field who express those reservations.
Peter Cui, chief executive of a tutoring service, who provides individual instructors, wrote that "the development of becoming bicultural, or indeed, discovering oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not manufactured."
The expert explained that he had relocated from the Far East to the United Kingdom at the age of 7 years old, and had been educated understanding and living two backgrounds. He continued to be educated at a prestigious UK institution.
"The concept that an individual can act as a living vessel of UK identity, someone who can somehow impart the attributes of a English gentleman upon a infant child, strikes me as naive and unrealistic," he commented.
"Based on my background, having a distinctly British tutor from babyhood will will not necessarily achieve the goal they hope for.
"I wasn't provided with such a tutor, and yet I have been fortunate enough to live many of the opportunities they aspire for their son."
He continued: "The truth is, self-identity should not be dictated from the external environment; it must be embraced, and it must come from within."
Buying Britishness
Of course, Britishness is something the expert believes can be instructed – and sold.
"I think the reality that the world holds us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
