"A family located in the northern part of London seeks an extraordinary and qualified instructor to support their youngest child on his early path to becoming an British gentleman."
Looking at this advertisement, you might easily skip the wording "beginning" as mere figurative language.
However, it may be the most important element of this unique job advert, as it seeks to find a tutor for a 12-month-old.
Hundreds of submissions have since been sent in since the anonymous family posted their call for the £180k-a-year tutor, who needs to be "an exceptional individual".
Over the last few weeks, the advert has gained interest throughout the news, with many questioning why?
Forward-Thinking Method
A tutoring expert, chief executive of Tutors International, which is assisting the family in their search, said that despite first doubt, he viewed the idea "forward-looking", and "progressive".
When he consulted the family, he noted they appreciated the unconventional character of their requirement, and how young their son is.
Nevertheless, they stated that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to get a tutor, as they had held off until their firstborn was five, and by that stage "cultural influence had already taken hold".
What exactly did the family mean by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "all-encompassing", he replied. "The way you eat, how you speak".
He explained the firstborn had absorbed "very nuanced, body language" from the family, and had adopted their cultural habits. The family explained to him they hoped to prevent this pattern to repeat itself with their younger child.
The intention: To engage a English tutor, who should speak with Received Pronunciation, to influence the baby from the very start.
Natural Absorption
"A lot of the learning at the start here is somewhat absorbed naturally," stated the expert.
It's via this natural absorption that the family are hoping the child will pick up the British traits they aim to cultivate.
Adam explained the tutor must be an individual who went to "the appropriate educational institutions – the same kinds of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The tutor must be the appropriate candidate, they'll be doing things they may not realize they're doing, simply by nature," he commented.
Expense Not a Factor
The family told Adam the chosen tutor should preferably also have knowledge of or passion in equestrian activities, skiing, the arts and instrumental training so as to influence the child in a diverse set of passions.
Additionally though, he explained the family wanted the tutor to enrol the child on a range of classes so the child would be "pony-riding and starting an tool by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's perspective, guiding their son become a "British gentleman" will bring about success and open doors.
"Taking into account the pros and cons of that, because it's definitely a status symbol," he adds.
However, despite all this tutelage in "English culture", could the child adopt so-called cultural influence from the international family he is raised by regardless?
"Absolutely", said Adam. "The parents understand this could fail, but they've merely embraced the view of, 'why not attempt it and we'll proceed as quickly as we can', because the expense of it is not relevant," he said.
Impractical
A number of in the education sector who express those reservations.
An education leader, chief executive of a tutoring service, who supplies personal educators, commented that "the process of adopting dual cultures, or actually, becoming oneself, is something that must be lived into, not designed."
The expert noted that he had relocated from the Far East to the Britain at the period of childhood, and had been brought up understanding and living both cultures. He went on to be educated at the University of Cambridge.
"The notion that one individual can act as a embodiment of Britishness, a person who can somehow transplant the attributes of a UK sophisticate onto a 12-month-old child, strikes me as optimistic and impractical," he wrote.
"In my experience, engaging a typically British tutor from early childhood will does not instantly produce the goal they desire.
"I did not have that kind of mentor, and yet I have been privileged enough to live several of the opportunities they hope for their son."
He added: "The fact is, self-identity cannot be imposed from the external environment; it must be embraced, and it must come from within."
Acquiring Englishness
Naturally, English culture is something Adam believes can be instructed – and commercialized.
"I think the situation that the global community regards us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
