"A household located in North London seeks an exceptional and skilled tutor to assist their youngest child on his early path to becoming an English gentleman."
Upon seeing this listing, you might naturally skip the term "first-steps" as simple a turn of phrase.
However, it could be the most significant element of this distinctive position posting, as it seeks to recruit a teacher for a one-year-old.
Numerous of responses have now been sent in since the anonymous family published their search for the £180,000 per year tutor, who must be "a uniquely qualified person".
During the past few weeks, the post has gained interest across the press, with several wondering why?
Forward-Thinking Method
The CEO, CEO and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is assisting the family in their search, stated that in spite of initial skepticism, he viewed the plan "forward-looking", and "advanced".
When he met the family, he said they appreciated the unusual character of their request, and how young their son is.
Nevertheless, they stated 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 already taken hold".
What exactly does the family refer to by "cultural bias"?
It's "everything", he replied. "The manner you eat, how you speak".
He stated the firstborn had absorbed "extremely delicate, body language" from the family, and had adopted their cultural ways. The family informed the consultant they did not want this pattern to recur with their younger child.
The plan: To bring in a English tutor, who should speak with standard English accent, to shape the baby from the very start.
Osmotic Learning
"A great deal of the education at the start here is kind of osmotic," explained Adam.
It's by means of this subtle influence that the family are aiming the child will acquire the English characteristics they wish to impart.
He noted the tutor must be an individual who went to "the right kinds of schools – the same kinds of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The tutor must be the suitable individual, they'll be performing things they aren't even aware they're doing, simply by nature," he said.
Expense Not a Factor
The family informed him the selected educator should preferably also have knowledge of or interest in riding, alpine skiing, creative fields and instrumental training so as to shape the child in a wide range of passions.
Additionally though, he explained the family wanted the tutor to register the child on a selection of courses so the child would be "pony-riding and starting an tool by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's view, helping their son grow into a "English gentleman" will lead to success and provide access.
"Taking into account the rights and wrongs of that, because it's certainly a status symbol," he notes.
Yet, despite all this guidance in "English culture", could the child absorb what is termed cultural influence from the globally influenced family he resides with anyway?
"Absolutely", said the CEO. "The family understand this might not succeed, but they've just taken the attitude of, 'why not attempt it and we'll proceed as soon as we can', because the cost of it is not relevant," he explained.
Impractical
There are some in the education sector who share these doubts.
Another CEO, head and founder of a tutoring service, who supplies private tutors, wrote that "the journey of embracing two identities, or in fact, becoming oneself, is something that must be lived into, not engineered."
He explained that he had relocated from China to the United Kingdom at the age of 7 years old, and had been brought up experiencing and living both cultures. He continued to be educated at the University of Cambridge.
"The notion that an individual can act as a living vessel of UK identity, someone who can possibly transfer the characteristics of a British gentleman to a 12-month-old child, strikes me as idealistic and unfeasible," he commented.
"From my perspective, having a quintessentially UK tutor from babyhood will will not automatically produce the outcome they want.
"I never had such a tutor, and however I have been lucky enough to live several of the situations they hope for their son."
He added: "The truth is, personal identity cannot be dictated from the external environment; it must be selected, and it must come from within."
Purchasing UK Culture
Certainly, UK identity is something Adam hopes can be educated – and sold.
"I think the reality that the international society holds us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
