"Parents based in north London is looking for an exceptional and qualified tutor to support their most junior child on his first steps to turning into an English gentleman."
Upon seeing this post, you might naturally overlook the term "initial stages" as just an expression.
Yet, it may be the crucial element of this unique position posting, as it attempts to hire a teacher for a one-year-old.
Many of responses have since been received since the anonymous family published their call for the £180,000 per year tutor, who must be "an exceptional individual".
In recent few weeks, the post has attracted notice across the media, with several wondering why?
Progressive Approach
Adam Caller, CEO and founder of an education consultancy, which is assisting the family in their hunt, stated that notwithstanding initial skepticism, he viewed the idea "far sighted", and "innovative".
When he consulted the family, he noted they understood the atypical character of their request, and how immature their son is.
Nevertheless, they explained that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had waited until their older child was five, and by that point "cultural influence had already set in".
What exactly does the family mean by "cultural leaning"?
It's "comprehensive", the expert replied. "The manner you eat, the way you speak".
He said the firstborn had picked up "extremely delicate, unspoken signals" from the family, and had taken on their cultural habits. The family informed him they did not want history to recur with their younger child.
The plan: To engage a British tutor, who must speak with Received Pronunciation, to influence the baby right from the beginning.
Osmotic Learning
"A lot of the education at the start here is rather acquired indirectly," explained Adam.
It's by means of this subtle influence that the family are hoping the child will pick up the English characteristics they wish to instil.
He noted the tutor had to be someone who attended "the appropriate educational institutions – similar types of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The educator must be the right kind of person, they'll be performing things they aren't even aware they're doing, just naturally," he commented.
Money No Object
The family explained to him the chosen tutor should ideally also have knowledge of or interest in riding, skiing, creative fields and instrumental training so as to inspire the child in a diverse set of interests.
More than that though, he said the family desired the tutor to enrol the child on a range of classes so the child would be "horseback riding and learning an instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's perspective, helping their son develop into a "British gentleman" will result in success and create opportunities.
"For all the rights and wrongs of that, because it's definitely a class statement," he adds.
But, despite all this guidance in "Britishness", would the child pick up alleged cultural bias from the globally influenced family he lives with regardless?
"Certainly", answered Adam. "The parents know this could fail, but they've simply adopted the perspective of, 'why not attempt it and we'll proceed as early as we can', because the expense of it is not a concern," he explained.
Impractical
There are some in the tutoring industry who express these reservations.
An education leader, CEO and founder of a tutoring service, who supplies personal educators, wrote that "the process of embracing two identities, or indeed, discovering oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not manufactured."
He wrote that he had emigrated from Asia to the United Kingdom at the period of seven, and had been brought up understanding and practicing dual heritages. He progressed to learn at Cambridge University.
"The notion that one individual can act as a embodiment of Britishness, someone who can in some way impart the attributes of a British gentleman onto a infant child, seems to me idealistic and unrealistic," he wrote.
"In my experience, engaging a quintessentially UK tutor from babyhood will will not necessarily create the outcome they desire.
"I wasn't provided with such a figure, and nevertheless I have been fortunate enough to enjoy several of the experiences they hope for their son."
He added: "The truth is, self-identity should not be imposed from the outside influences; it must be chosen, and it must be internally driven."
Buying Britishness
Naturally, English culture is something Adam hopes can be educated – and marketed.
"I think the reality that the world views us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
