"Parents located in the northern part of London seeks an exceptional and experienced instructor to assist their most junior child on his early path to turning into an English gentleman."
Looking at this listing, you might naturally skip the term "initial stages" as simple an expression.
Yet, it could be the crucial aspect of this unique employment listing, as it seeks to recruit a tutor for a 12-month-old.
Hundreds of submissions have since been received since the unnamed family published their search for the £180k-a-year tutor, who must be "a uniquely qualified person".
In recent few weeks, the listing has received attention across the press, with several questioning why?
Forward-Thinking Method
Adam Caller, chief executive of an education consultancy, which is supporting the family in their search, stated that notwithstanding early skepticism, he found the idea "forward-looking", and "advanced".
When he met the family, he said they appreciated the unusual nature of their demand, and how immature their son is.
Nevertheless, they stated that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had postponed until their elder sibling was five, and by that point "cultural conditioning had already set in".
What precisely does the family mean by "cultural leaning"?
It's "everything", the expert responded. "The way you eat, the manner you speak".
He said the elder child had absorbed "very nuanced, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had taken on their cultural norms. The family explained to Adam they did not want history to happen again with their infant.
The intention: To bring in a UK tutor, who needs to speak with RP, to shape the baby from day one.
Natural Absorption
"Much of the education at the outset here is kind of absorbed naturally," said the CEO.
It's via this natural absorption that the family are expecting the child will pick up the UK customs they aim to impart.
The consultant explained the tutor must be an individual who attended "the right kinds of schools – the same kinds of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The tutor just has to be the suitable individual, they'll be doing things they don't even know they're doing, effortlessly," he commented.
Money No Object
The family told him the successful candidate should ideally also have knowledge of or interest in riding, alpine skiing, the arts and music so as to influence the child in a broad spectrum of passions.
More than that though, he said the family hoped the tutor to sign up the child on a variety of lessons so the child would be "horseback riding and picking up an musical instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's view, guiding their son develop into a "English gentleman" will result in success and create opportunities.
"For all the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's undoubtedly a social class indicator," he adds.
But, in spite of all this instruction in "Britishness", might the child absorb alleged cultural bias from the globally influenced family he resides with in any case?
"Yes", replied he. "The family realize this may not work, but they've merely embraced the perspective of, 'we should try and we should start as soon as we can', because the cost of it is irrelevant," he explained.
Impractical
A number of in the education sector who share those doubts.
Peter Cui, head and founder of a tutoring service, who provides individual instructors, stated that "the development of becoming bicultural, or indeed, discovering oneself, is something that must be grown into, not engineered."
He explained that he had relocated from the Far East to the United Kingdom at the time of seven, and had been raised understanding and living both cultures. He continued to learn at Cambridge University.
"The concept that an individual can serve as a embodiment of UK identity, an individual who can somehow impart the qualities of a British gentleman to a infant child, appears optimistic and unrealistic," he wrote.
"In my experience, engaging a distinctly British tutor from babyhood will will not necessarily achieve the result they want.
"I did not have such a tutor, and yet I have been privileged enough to experience many of the situations they aspire for their son."
He added: "The truth is, self-identity cannot be imposed from the outside influences; it must be embraced, and it must originate internally."
Buying Britishness
Of course, English culture is something Adam believes can be instructed – and sold.
"In my view the fact that the global community regards us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
