"A household residing in north London seeks an remarkable and qualified instructor to guide their smallest child on his first steps to growing into an English gentleman."
Upon seeing this listing, you might easily skip the wording "initial stages" as simple a turn of phrase.
Yet, it could be the crucial element of this distinctive employment listing, as it attempts to recruit a tutor for a 12-month-old.
Hundreds of submissions have since been received since the unnamed family advertised their call for the £180,000 per year tutor, who has to be "an exceptional individual".
During the past few weeks, the listing has received interest across the news, with several wondering why?
Forward-Thinking Method
A tutoring expert, chief executive of an education consultancy, which is assisting the family in their hunt, explained that despite first skepticism, he viewed the plan "far sighted", and "advanced".
When he met the family, he mentioned they recognized the unusual nature of their request, and how young their son is.
Nevertheless, they clarified that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had postponed until their elder sibling was five, and by that point "cultural bias had already set in".
What exactly did the family refer to by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "everything", he replied. "How you eat, the way you speak".
He said the elder child had adopted "really subtle, body language" from the family, and had assumed their cultural ways. The family told Adam they wished to avoid history to recur with their younger child.
The plan: To hire a British tutor, who must speak with standard English accent, to guide the baby from the very start.
Osmotic Learning
"A great deal of the education at the beginning here is rather absorbed naturally," explained the expert.
It's through this subtle influence that the family are hoping the child will adopt the English characteristics they wish to cultivate.
Adam explained the tutor must be an individual who attended "the appropriate educational institutions – similar types of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The tutor simply needs to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be doing things they aren't even aware they're doing, just naturally," he added.
Money No Object
The family explained to the expert the selected educator should ideally also have understanding of or interest in horse riding, alpine skiing, artistic pursuits and instrumental training so as to shape the child in a broad spectrum of interests.
Additionally though, he said the family desired the tutor to enrol the child on a range of lessons so the child would be "equestrian training and picking up an musical instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's view, assisting their son develop into a "British gentleman" will lead to achievement and create opportunities.
"Considering the pros and cons of that, because it's certainly a social class indicator," he notes.
However, despite all this guidance in "UK identity", might the child absorb alleged cultural bias from the multicultural family he lives with in any case?
"Yes", replied Adam. "The parents know this may not work, but they've merely embraced the view of, 'let's give it a go and we'll proceed as quickly as we can', because the expense of it is irrelevant," he said.
Overly Optimistic
There are some in the tutoring industry who have those concerns.
An education leader, head and founder of a tutoring service, who supplies individual instructors, commented that "the development of embracing two identities, or indeed, becoming oneself, is something that must be lived into, not manufactured."
The expert noted that he had emigrated from the Far East to the UK at the period of seven, and had been brought up knowing and practicing dual heritages. He continued to be educated at a prestigious UK institution.
"The concept that one individual can function as a representation of English culture, an individual who can in some way impart the characteristics of a UK sophisticate to a infant child, strikes me as idealistic and unfeasible," he wrote.
"Based on my background, having a distinctly British tutor from infancy will not automatically create the goal they want.
"I wasn't provided with that kind of mentor, and yet I have been lucky enough to live many of the situations they aspire for their son."
He continued: "The fact is, personal identity cannot be imposed from the outside; it must be selected, and it must come from within."
Acquiring Englishness
Certainly, UK identity is something Adam thinks can be taught – and commercialized.
"I believe the situation that the world regards us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
