"A family based in North London seeks an extraordinary and experienced educator to assist their smallest child on his early path to growing into an English gentleman."
Upon seeing this listing, you might naturally skip the wording "first-steps" as simple figurative language.
But, it could be the most important aspect of this distinctive job advert, as it aims to hire a tutor for a one-year-old.
Numerous of applications have now been submitted since the unnamed family published their call for the £180,000 per year tutor, who has to be "an exceptional individual".
Over the last few weeks, the advert has received notice across the news, with several wondering why?
Forward-Thinking Method
A tutoring expert, chief executive of an education consultancy, which is assisting the family in their search, explained that notwithstanding initial skepticism, he found the idea "far sighted", and "advanced".
When he spoke with the family, he said they understood the atypical nature of their requirement, and how young their son is.
But, they clarified that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had held off until their firstborn was five, and by that point "cultural influence had already set in".
What precisely does the family refer to by "cultural leaning"?
It's "everything", he replied. "The way you eat, the way you speak".
He said the elder child had absorbed "very nuanced, body language" from the family, and had assumed their cultural ways. The family informed him they wished to avoid the same situation to happen again with their new baby.
The strategy: To bring in a English tutor, who should speak with Received Pronunciation, to shape the baby from day one.
Natural Absorption
"A great deal of the education at the start here is rather acquired indirectly," explained the CEO.
It's by means of this osmosis that the family are expecting the child will adopt the British traits they aim to impart.
Adam noted the tutor needed to be an individual who attended "the right kinds of schools – comparable categories 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 aren't even aware they're doing, effortlessly," he added.
Money No Object
The family told him the selected educator should preferably also have understanding of or passion in equestrian activities, skiing, artistic pursuits and music so as to shape the child in a broad spectrum of interests.
Furthermore though, he explained the family hoped the tutor to enrol the child on a range of lessons so the child would be "equestrian training and starting an instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's perspective, helping their son become a "British gentleman" will result in accomplishment and create opportunities.
"Taking into account the rights and wrongs of that, because it's undoubtedly a status symbol," he adds.
But, notwithstanding all this tutelage in "Britishness", would the child absorb so-called cultural bias from the international family he resides with anyway?
"Yes", replied the CEO. "They realize this might not succeed, but they've merely embraced the attitude of, 'why not attempt it and let's go as quickly as we can', because the price of it is irrelevant," he said.
Overly Optimistic
A number of in the tutoring industry who express similar reservations.
Peter Cui, chief executive of an educational organization, who provides private tutors, stated that "the development of embracing two identities, or in fact, forming one's identity, is something that must be lived into, not manufactured."
Peter explained that he had moved from Asia to the United Kingdom at the period of 7 years old, and had been brought up knowing and practicing dual heritages. He progressed to learn at Cambridge University.
"The concept that one individual can act as a embodiment of Britishness, someone who can somehow transplant the characteristics of a British gentleman onto a infant child, appears naive and unrealistic," he wrote.
"Based on my background, having a typically English tutor from infancy will will not automatically create the goal they desire.
"I wasn't provided with such a figure, and nevertheless I have been privileged enough to experience many of the situations they desire for their son."
He continued: "The truth is, personal identity cannot be dictated from the external environment; it must be selected, and it must be internally driven."
Acquiring Englishness
Certainly, Britishness is something the expert thinks can be taught – and marketed.
"I think the fact that the international society views us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
