"A family located in North London seeks an extraordinary and skilled instructor to assist their youngest child on his early path to turning into an English gentleman."
Upon seeing this post, you might readily skip the term "first-steps" as mere figurative language.
Yet, it may be the crucial part of this unusual position posting, as it seeks to recruit a mentor for a 12-month-old.
Many of applications have now been sent in since the anonymous family published their search for the £180k-a-year tutor, who needs to be "an exceptional individual".
In recent few weeks, the post has attracted interest across the press, with several asking why?
Forward-Thinking Method
A tutoring expert, chief executive of a global tutoring firm, which is supporting the family in their search, explained that in spite of first skepticism, he found the concept "far sighted", and "advanced".
When he spoke with the family, he mentioned they understood the unusual nature of their demand, and how early in age their son is.
But, they clarified that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had waited until their firstborn was five, and by that age "cultural conditioning had already taken hold".
What precisely does the family indicate by "cultural leaning"?
It's "all-encompassing", the expert answered. "The way you eat, the manner you speak".
He stated the elder child had picked up "extremely delicate, body language" from the family, and had adopted their cultural ways. The family explained to Adam they hoped to prevent this pattern to happen again with their new baby.
The strategy: To hire a UK tutor, who should speak with Received Pronunciation, to influence the baby right from the beginning.
Subtle Influence
"A great deal of the education at the outset here is kind of acquired indirectly," said Adam.
It's via this subtle influence that the family are hoping the child will adopt the English characteristics they aim to instil.
He said the tutor needed to be someone who studied at "the appropriate educational institutions – similar types of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The instructor simply needs to be the suitable individual, they'll be performing things they don't even know they're doing, just naturally," he commented.
Expense Not a Factor
The family explained to him the successful candidate should ideally also have knowledge of or passion in horse riding, skiing, artistic pursuits and musical activities so as to shape the child in a broad spectrum of hobbies.
More than that though, he explained the family desired the tutor to enrol the child on a range of courses so the child would be "horseback riding and starting an instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's perspective, helping their son become a "English gentleman" will result in achievement and open doors.
"For all the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's definitely a social class indicator," he notes.
But, in spite of all this instruction in "Britishness", could the child adopt alleged cultural bias from the international family he is raised by regardless?
"Absolutely", answered the CEO. "They know this could fail, but they've simply adopted the view of, 'we should try and let's go as early as we can', because the cost of it is not a concern," he explained.
Impractical
Several in the education sector who express these reservations.
Peter Cui, chief executive of an educational organization, who provides private tutors, stated that "the development of becoming bicultural, or indeed, forming one's identity, is something that must be grown into, not engineered."
Peter explained that he had relocated from the Far East to the UK at the time of seven, and had been educated understanding and living dual heritages. He went on to study at the University of Cambridge.
"The idea that one individual can function as a living vessel of English culture, someone who can in some way transfer the attributes of a English gentleman upon a one-year-old child, strikes me as idealistic and impractical," he stated.
"In my experience, employing a distinctly English tutor from early childhood will will not instantly achieve the goal they hope for.
"I did not have that kind of mentor, and yet I have been fortunate enough to enjoy numerous of the situations they aspire for their son."
He added: "The truth is, self-identity cannot be dictated from the external environment; it must be selected, and it must be internally driven."
Buying Britishness
Of course, English culture is something the CEO believes can be educated – and sold.
"In my view the reality that the global community views us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
