"A family residing in North London is looking for an exceptional and experienced instructor to guide their youngest child on his first steps to becoming an English gentleman."
Looking at this listing, you might easily overlook the term "beginning" as just a turn of phrase.
However, it could be the crucial element of this distinctive job advert, as it seeks to find a tutor for a 12-month-old.
Hundreds of responses have since been sent in since the unnamed family published their search for the highly paid tutor, who must be "an exceptional individual".
In recent few weeks, the listing has attracted interest across the media, with many wondering why?
Forward-Thinking Method
The CEO, head and founder of Tutors International, which is assisting the family in their hunt, said that notwithstanding early doubt, he viewed the idea "far sighted", and "progressive".
When he consulted the family, he said they appreciated the atypical character of their request, and how early in age their son is.
However, they clarified that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had held off until their firstborn was five, and by that stage "cultural conditioning had already become established".
What precisely does the family mean by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "all-encompassing", he answered. "The manner you eat, how you speak".
He stated the firstborn had adopted "really subtle, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had taken on their cultural norms. The family explained to Adam they wished to avoid the same situation to repeat itself with their infant.
The intention: To bring in a English tutor, who needs to speak with Received Pronunciation, to shape the baby from the very start.
Subtle Influence
"A lot of the education at the outset here is rather absorbed naturally," explained the CEO.
It's through this natural absorption that the family are expecting the child will adopt the British traits they wish to instil.
The consultant said the tutor had to be somebody who went to "prestigious academies – similar types of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The tutor simply needs to be the right kind of person, they'll be performing things they aren't even aware they're doing, simply by nature," he commented.
Cost Not Relevant
The family explained to Adam the successful candidate should ideally also have knowledge of or interest in equestrian activities, winter sports, creative fields and music so as to influence the child in a diverse set of hobbies.
Additionally though, he stated the family desired the tutor to sign up the child on a range of courses so the child would be "equestrian training and learning an musical instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's minds, helping their son become a "English gentleman" will result in achievement and open doors.
"Taking into account the rights and wrongs of that, because it's definitely a social class indicator," he comments.
But, in spite of all this instruction in "English culture", might the child absorb so-called cultural leaning from the globally influenced family he is raised by regardless?
"Yes", answered the CEO. "The parents understand this may not work, but they've just taken the attitude of, 'we should try and let's go as soon as we can', because the cost of it is not a concern," he stated.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
There are some in the tutoring industry who express similar reservations.
Another CEO, CEO and founder of a tutoring service, who provides individual instructors, stated that "the journey of adopting dual cultures, or actually, forming one's identity, is something that must be experienced personally, not manufactured."
The expert explained that he had relocated from the Far East to the Britain at the period of seven, and had been raised knowing and practicing two backgrounds. He went on to study at Cambridge University.
"The idea that a single person can act as a representation of UK identity, someone who can somehow impart the qualities of a UK sophisticate upon a infant child, seems to me idealistic and unfeasible," he stated.
"Based on my background, engaging a distinctly British tutor from early childhood will does not instantly create the result they want.
"I did not have such a figure, and yet I have been privileged enough to experience many of the situations they desire for their son."
He added: "The truth is, self-identity can not be forced from the external environment; it must be selected, and it must originate internally."
Purchasing UK Culture
Of course, English culture is something the CEO believes can be educated – and commercialized.
"I think the reality that the world holds us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
