"A household located in north London wants to find an extraordinary and experienced tutor to assist their most junior child on his initial journey to growing into an English gentleman."
When reading this advertisement, you might naturally skip the term "first-steps" as simple a turn of phrase.
Yet, it may be the most significant part of this unique job advert, as it aims to hire a teacher for a infant.
Many of submissions have now been received since the unidentified family posted their call for the £180k-a-year tutor, who must be "someone very special".
Over the last few weeks, the post has received notice throughout the press, with numerous questioning why?
Forward-Thinking Method
Adam Caller, CEO and founder of an education consultancy, which is assisting the family in their quest, said that notwithstanding initial skepticism, he considered the concept "visionary", and "innovative".
When he spoke with the family, he noted they appreciated the unusual character of their requirement, and how immature their son is.
However, they clarified that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to get a tutor, as they had held off until their older child was five, and by that point "cultural influence had by then set in".
What precisely does the family mean by "cultural leaning"?
It's "everything", Adam answered. "The manner you eat, how you speak".
He said the elder child had picked up "very nuanced, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had taken on their cultural ways. The family informed Adam they wished to avoid history to recur with their new baby.
The strategy: To hire a UK tutor, who needs to speak with Received Pronunciation, to shape the baby from day one.
Natural Absorption
"Much of the education at the beginning here is rather acquired indirectly," said the expert.
It's via this subtle influence that the family are aiming the child will pick up the British traits they aim to impart.
Adam explained the tutor needed to be somebody who went to "the right kinds of schools – similar types of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The tutor just has to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be doing things they don't even know they're doing, simply by nature," he commented.
Expense Not a Factor
The family informed him the successful candidate should ideally also have familiarity of or interest in horse riding, alpine skiing, creative fields and musical activities so as to shape the child in a wide range of interests.
Additionally though, he said the family wanted the tutor to sign up the child on a selection of courses so the child would be "pony-riding and starting an tool by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's view, helping their son grow into a "UK sophisticate" will result in achievement and create opportunities.
"For all the rights and wrongs of that, because it's certainly a class statement," he comments.
However, in spite of all this guidance in "Britishness", might the child pick up what is termed cultural influence from the international family he resides with in any case?
"Certainly", said Adam. "The family realize this could fail, but they've simply adopted the attitude of, 'let's give it a go and we'll proceed as early as we can', because the price of it is irrelevant," he stated.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
A number of in the education sector who share those concerns.
Peter Cui, CEO and founder of Blue Education, who supplies personal educators, commented that "the development of becoming bicultural, or in fact, forming one's identity, is something that must be lived into, not manufactured."
The expert noted that he had relocated from China to the Britain at the time of childhood, and had been brought up understanding and living dual heritages. He went on to learn at Cambridge University.
"The idea that an individual can act as a embodiment of English culture, someone who can somehow impart the attributes of a UK sophisticate to a 12-month-old child, seems to me idealistic and unfeasible," he wrote.
"From my perspective, engaging a distinctly British tutor from infancy will not instantly create the result they hope for.
"I wasn't provided with such a figure, and nevertheless I have been fortunate enough to experience many of the opportunities they aspire for their son."
He continued: "The fact is, personal identity cannot be dictated from the outside influences; it must be selected, and it must come from within."
Acquiring Englishness
Of course, UK identity is something Adam hopes can be taught – and sold.
"I believe the fact that the global community holds us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
