"A household based in the northern part of London is looking for an exceptional and experienced tutor to support their smallest child on his initial journey to becoming an English gentleman."
When reading this post, you might naturally overlook the term "first-steps" as mere figurative language.
But, it might be the most important part of this distinctive job advert, as it attempts to recruit a teacher for a 12-month-old.
Hundreds of applications have already been sent in since the anonymous family advertised their request for the £180,000 per year tutor, who must be "an exceptional individual".
Over the last few weeks, the listing has received interest in the press, with several questioning why?
Innovative Idea
The CEO, head and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is supporting the family in their search, said that in spite of first skepticism, he found the concept "far sighted", and "progressive".
When he spoke with the family, he mentioned they recognized the atypical character of their request, and how early in age their son is.
However, they stated that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had postponed until their older child was five, and by that point "cultural influence had by then taken hold".
But what did the family mean by "cultural bias"?
It's "comprehensive", the expert replied. "How you eat, how you speak".
He said the firstborn had picked up "very nuanced, body language" from the family, and had assumed their cultural ways. The family told him they hoped to prevent history to recur with their new baby.
The strategy: To hire a UK tutor, who must speak with RP, to guide the baby from day one.
Osmotic Learning
"A lot of the education at the start here is somewhat osmotic," explained the CEO.
It's via this subtle influence that the family are aiming the child will pick up the English characteristics they wish to instil.
He noted the tutor must be somebody who studied at "prestigious academies – similar types of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The educator must be the appropriate candidate, they'll be performing things they don't even know they're doing, just naturally," he added.
Expense Not a Factor
The family told him the chosen tutor should preferably also have familiarity of or interest in riding, winter sports, artistic pursuits and instrumental training so as to influence the child in a broad spectrum of hobbies.
Additionally though, he said the family hoped the tutor to register the child on a variety of lessons so the child would be "horseback riding and starting an musical instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's perspective, guiding their son grow into a "British gentleman" will bring about achievement and provide access.
"Considering the rights and wrongs of that, because it's definitely a social class indicator," he comments.
Yet, notwithstanding all this tutelage in "English culture", could the child absorb what is termed cultural leaning from the globally influenced family he resides with anyway?
"Yes", replied he. "The family know this may not work, but they've merely embraced the view of, 'let's give it a go and we'll proceed as early as we can', because the expense of it is not relevant," he said.
Overly Optimistic
A number of in the education sector who have these concerns.
Peter Cui, CEO and founder of a tutoring service, who also offer individual instructors, stated that "the development of embracing two identities, or indeed, becoming oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not engineered."
He explained that he had moved from the Far East to the Britain at the time of childhood, and had been educated experiencing and practicing dual heritages. He went on to learn at Cambridge University.
"The concept that one individual can function as a representation of English culture, an individual who can possibly transfer the characteristics of a UK sophisticate upon a infant child, seems to me optimistic and unfeasible," he commented.
"From my perspective, having a quintessentially UK tutor from early childhood will does not instantly create the goal they want.
"I did not have such a figure, and yet I have been fortunate enough to enjoy many of the situations they aspire for their son."
He continued: "The reality is, self-identity cannot be dictated from the outside influences; it must be selected, and it must come from within."
Buying Britishness
Certainly, English culture is something Adam hopes can be educated – and marketed.
"In my view the reality that the world holds us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
