"A family located in the northern part of London seeks an remarkable and qualified educator to guide their smallest child on his initial journey to becoming an British gentleman."
Looking at this advertisement, you might naturally skip the term "first-steps" as simple a turn of phrase.
However, it could be the most significant element of this distinctive position posting, as it seeks to hire a mentor for a one-year-old.
Hundreds of responses have already been submitted since the anonymous family published their call for the £180k-a-year tutor, who needs to be "an exceptional individual".
Over the last few weeks, the listing has gained interest in the news, with many asking why?
Innovative Idea
The CEO, CEO and founder of an education consultancy, which is assisting the family in their hunt, said that notwithstanding early skepticism, he considered the plan "visionary", and "innovative".
When he met the family, he said they appreciated the atypical nature of their requirement, and how immature their son is.
But, they clarified that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to get a tutor, as they had held off until their elder sibling was five, and by that point "cultural influence had already taken hold".
But what does the family mean by "cultural leaning"?
It's "everything", the expert replied. "The manner you eat, how you speak".
He explained the elder child had absorbed "very nuanced, unspoken signals" from the family, and had taken on their cultural norms. The family told Adam they wished to avoid history to recur with their new baby.
The intention: To bring in a British tutor, who must speak with Received Pronunciation, to influence the baby right from the beginning.
Natural Absorption
"A great deal of the education at the beginning here is kind of osmotic," explained the expert.
It's through this osmosis that the family are hoping the child will pick up the British traits they aim to impart.
He noted the tutor needed to be somebody who went to "the right kinds of schools – the same kinds of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The instructor just has to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be performing things they aren't even aware they're doing, effortlessly," he said.
Cost Not Relevant
The family told him the chosen tutor should ideally also have familiarity of or enthusiasm in horse riding, skiing, artistic pursuits and instrumental training so as to shape the child in a diverse set of passions.
More than that though, he said the family desired the tutor to enrol the child on a range of classes so the child would be "horseback riding and starting an instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's minds, helping their son become a "British gentleman" will result in success and create opportunities.
"Taking into account the rights and wrongs of that, because it's certainly a status symbol," he notes.
Yet, despite all this tutelage in "UK identity", would the child absorb what is termed cultural bias from the international family he lives with in any case?
"Certainly", answered Adam. "The family understand this could fail, 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 cost of it is not a concern," he explained.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
Several in the private teaching field who express these doubts.
Peter Cui, head and founder of a tutoring service, who supplies personal educators, commented that "the journey of becoming bicultural, or indeed, discovering oneself, is something that must be grown into, not manufactured."
Peter explained that he had moved from the Far East to the United Kingdom at the period of childhood, and had been raised knowing and living two backgrounds. He progressed to study at Cambridge University.
"The idea that one individual can act as a living vessel of Britishness, a person who can in some way transfer the attributes of a British gentleman to a one-year-old child, strikes me as naive and impractical," he wrote.
"In my experience, engaging a quintessentially English tutor from infancy will will not necessarily produce the outcome they hope for.
"I wasn't provided with such a figure, and however I have been lucky enough to enjoy several of the opportunities they aspire for their son."
He stated: "The fact is, self-identity should not be imposed from the outside; it must be chosen, and it must be internally driven."
Purchasing UK Culture
Of course, Britishness is something the CEO hopes can be taught – and marketed.
"In my view the situation that the world regards us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
