"A family located in north London wants to find an extraordinary and experienced instructor to guide their smallest child on his first steps to growing into an English gentleman."
Looking at this listing, you might easily overlook the phrase "initial stages" as just figurative language.
But, it might be the most important aspect of this unusual employment listing, as it aims to recruit a tutor for a 12-month-old.
Hundreds of submissions have since been submitted since the unnamed family posted their search for the highly paid tutor, who must be "a uniquely qualified person".
During the past few weeks, the listing has attracted notice in the media, with many questioning why?
Forward-Thinking Method
Adam Caller, chief executive of a global tutoring firm, which is helping the family in their hunt, said that in spite of first skepticism, he viewed the idea "visionary", and "advanced".
When he consulted the family, he said they understood the atypical aspect of their requirement, and how immature their son is.
But, they stated that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had held off until their elder sibling was five, and by that age "cultural bias had already taken hold".
What precisely does the family mean by "cultural bias"?
It's "comprehensive", he replied. "How you eat, the way you speak".
He said the elder child had picked up "very nuanced, body language" from the family, and had adopted their cultural habits. The family informed Adam they wished to avoid the same situation to repeat itself with their new baby.
The plan: To engage a UK tutor, who should speak with standard English accent, to guide the baby from the very start.
Osmotic Learning
"A lot of the development at the outset here is kind of osmotic," explained Adam.
It's via this osmosis that the family are hoping the child will adopt the English characteristics they wish to impart.
Adam said the tutor must be someone who attended "the right kinds of schools – the same kinds of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The educator simply needs to be the right kind of person, they'll be carrying out things they may not realize they're doing, just naturally," he said.
Expense Not a Factor
The family explained to him the selected educator should ideally also have familiarity of or enthusiasm in riding, skiing, creative fields and music so as to shape the child in a wide range of hobbies.
Furthermore though, he explained the family wanted 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 around three years old".
In the family's view, helping their son grow into a "UK sophisticate" will lead to success and open doors.
"For all the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's certainly a social class indicator," he notes.
But, notwithstanding all this guidance in "UK identity", would the child pick up alleged cultural leaning from the globally influenced family he resides with regardless?
"Absolutely", answered the CEO. "The parents know this might not succeed, but they've just taken the perspective of, 'let's give it a go and we should start as early as we can', because the expense of it is not a concern," he said.
Overly Optimistic
A number of in the private teaching field who express similar concerns.
Another CEO, CEO and founder of a tutoring service, who provides personal educators, wrote that "the development of adopting dual cultures, or actually, becoming oneself, is something that must be lived into, not designed."
Peter noted that he had moved from Asia to the UK at the age of childhood, and had been educated experiencing and practicing both cultures. He continued to be educated at a prestigious UK institution.
"The idea that one individual can act as a embodiment of English culture, a person who can in some way transplant the attributes of a UK sophisticate to a one-year-old child, strikes me as idealistic and unrealistic," he stated.
"From my perspective, employing a typically English tutor from babyhood will will not instantly produce the result they want.
"I never had such a figure, and nevertheless I have been lucky enough to enjoy several of the experiences they aspire for their son."
He added: "The fact is, personal identity should not be dictated from the external environment; it must be chosen, and it must originate internally."
Buying Britishness
Of course, UK identity is something the expert hopes can be taught – and marketed.
"In my view the fact that the world views us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
