"Parents residing in the northern part of London is looking for an extraordinary and skilled instructor to assist their most junior child on his early path to becoming an British gentleman."
When reading this post, you might easily overlook the term "first-steps" as simple a turn of phrase.
Yet, it could be the most important aspect of this unusual employment listing, as it seeks to recruit a teacher for a one-year-old.
Numerous of responses have now been submitted since the unidentified family posted their call for the £180k-a-year tutor, who needs to be "someone very special".
During the past few weeks, the advert has attracted attention across the news, with numerous asking why?
Progressive Approach
The CEO, CEO and founder of an education consultancy, which is assisting the family in their search, stated that notwithstanding first scepticism, he found the idea "visionary", and "innovative".
When he spoke with the family, he mentioned they recognized the unconventional character of their request, and how early in age their son is.
However, they explained that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to get a tutor, as they had waited until their elder sibling was five, and by that point "cultural influence had by then taken hold".
But what does the family mean by "cultural bias"?
It's "everything", the expert answered. "How you eat, the way you speak".
He explained the firstborn had absorbed "extremely delicate, unspoken signals" from the family, and had taken on their cultural ways. The family explained to Adam they hoped to prevent the same situation to repeat itself with their infant.
The intention: To engage a British tutor, who needs to speak with Received Pronunciation, to shape the baby from the very start.
Osmotic Learning
"A lot of the learning at the beginning here is kind of acquired indirectly," said the expert.
It's via this osmosis that the family are expecting the child will pick up the English characteristics they wish to impart.
Adam noted the tutor must be an individual who attended "prestigious academies – similar types of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The educator just has to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be carrying out things they may not realize they're doing, effortlessly," he added.
Expense Not a Factor
The family informed the expert the successful candidate should ideally also have knowledge of or passion in equestrian activities, alpine skiing, the arts and instrumental training so as to inspire the child in a broad spectrum of hobbies.
More than that though, he stated the family desired the tutor to register the child on a selection of courses so the child would be "horseback riding and picking up an instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's view, guiding their son develop into a "British gentleman" will result in success and create opportunities.
"For all the pros and cons of that, because it's definitely a status symbol," he notes.
But, in spite of all this instruction in "Britishness", would the child pick up alleged cultural bias from the international family he lives with regardless?
"Yes", said the CEO. "The family understand this may not work, but they've merely embraced the attitude of, 'why not attempt it and we'll proceed as soon as we can', because the expense of it is not relevant," he explained.
Overly Optimistic
There are some in the private teaching field who share those doubts.
Another CEO, chief executive of an educational organization, who provides personal educators, wrote that "the development of becoming bicultural, or actually, becoming oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not manufactured."
He noted that he had relocated from Asia to the Britain at the period of childhood, and had been brought up understanding and embodying both cultures. He went on to learn at the University of Cambridge.
"The concept that an individual can serve as a embodiment of UK identity, someone who can in some way transfer the attributes of a English gentleman to a one-year-old child, appears naive and impractical," he commented.
"From my perspective, engaging a quintessentially English tutor from infancy will will not automatically produce the result they hope for.
"I wasn't provided with such a figure, and nevertheless I have been privileged enough to live several of the experiences they hope for their son."
He stated: "The truth is, cultural identity cannot be dictated from the external environment; it must be embraced, and it must originate internally."
Acquiring Englishness
Of course, UK identity is something the expert hopes can be educated – and sold.
"In my view the fact that the world holds us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
