"A household based in north London is looking for an remarkable and skilled educator to assist their most junior child on his early path to turning into an British gentleman."
Upon seeing this listing, you might readily miss the term "first-steps" as mere a turn of phrase.
However, it might be the most important element of this unusual position posting, as it seeks to recruit a tutor for a 12-month-old.
Hundreds of applications have since been sent in since the unnamed family published their request for the £180,000 per year tutor, who needs to be "a uniquely qualified person".
In recent few weeks, the advert has attracted attention across the press, with several asking why?
Progressive Approach
A tutoring expert, chief executive of an education consultancy, which is helping the family in their search, said that notwithstanding early scepticism, he viewed the concept "far sighted", and "progressive".
When he spoke with the family, he mentioned they understood the unconventional nature of their request, and how immature their son is.
However, they clarified that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to get a tutor, as they had postponed until their older child was five, and by that age "cultural bias had by then set in".
What precisely did the family refer to by "cultural leaning"?
It's "all-encompassing", he answered. "How you eat, the manner you speak".
He explained the firstborn had picked up "really subtle, unspoken signals" from the family, and had taken on their cultural norms. The family told Adam they wished to avoid this pattern to happen again with their younger child.
The strategy: To engage a UK tutor, who needs to speak with RP, to shape the baby from day one.
Natural Absorption
"Much of the development at the start here is kind of acquired indirectly," said the CEO.
It's through this osmosis that the family are aiming the child will adopt the UK customs they wish to impart.
Adam explained the tutor had to be someone who attended "prestigious academies – comparable categories of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The educator just has to be the right kind of person, they'll be doing things they aren't even aware they're doing, just naturally," he commented.
Money No Object
The family told the expert the successful candidate should preferably also have familiarity of or enthusiasm in equestrian activities, skiing, creative fields and instrumental training so as to shape the child in a wide range of hobbies.
Furthermore though, he stated the family wanted the tutor to register the child on a selection of classes so the child would be "equestrian training and learning an tool by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's perspective, guiding their son grow into a "UK sophisticate" will bring about achievement and open doors.
"For all the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's definitely a social class indicator," he comments.
Yet, in spite of all this guidance in "Britishness", would the child absorb alleged cultural bias from the multicultural family he lives with regardless?
"Yes", answered he. "The parents understand this could fail, but they've just taken the attitude of, 'why not attempt it and we'll proceed as early as we can', because the expense of it is not relevant," he stated.
Impractical
A number of in the private teaching field who share these concerns.
Another CEO, chief executive of an educational organization, who provides private tutors, commented that "the process of embracing two identities, or in fact, discovering oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not designed."
The expert noted that he had moved from China to the UK at the time of childhood, and had been brought up knowing and practicing two backgrounds. He went on to learn at the University of Cambridge.
"The idea that an individual can act as a representation of English culture, an individual who can possibly transfer the attributes of a UK sophisticate upon a 12-month-old child, strikes me as idealistic and unfeasible," he wrote.
"In my experience, employing a distinctly English tutor from infancy will will not necessarily achieve the goal they hope for.
"I did not have such a tutor, and nevertheless I have been lucky enough to enjoy many of the situations they desire for their son."
He stated: "The reality is, self-identity cannot be dictated from the outside influences; it must be embraced, and it must come from within."
Buying Britishness
Of course, English culture is something the CEO believes can be instructed – and marketed.
"In my view the fact that the global community holds us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
