"Parents located in North London is looking for an exceptional and experienced tutor to support their youngest child on his initial journey to becoming an English gentleman."
Looking at this post, you might readily overlook the phrase "first-steps" as mere a turn of phrase.
But, it may be the most important part of this distinctive job advert, as it aims to recruit a tutor for a one-year-old.
Hundreds of responses have now been sent in since the unidentified family advertised their request for the £180k-a-year tutor, who needs to be "someone very special".
During the past few weeks, the post has received attention throughout the press, with several wondering why?
Forward-Thinking Method
The CEO, chief executive of Tutors International, which is helping the family in their search, said that despite early scepticism, he considered the idea "forward-looking", and "progressive".
When he spoke with the family, he mentioned they recognized the unconventional character of their request, and how young their son is.
But, they clarified that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had waited until their firstborn was five, and by that stage "cultural bias had already become established".
But what did the family refer to by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "all-encompassing", he answered. "The manner you eat, how you speak".
He explained the elder child had adopted "really subtle, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had taken on their cultural ways. The family told Adam they did not want this pattern to happen again with their new baby.
The plan: To bring in a English tutor, who must speak with Received Pronunciation, to shape the baby from day one.
Osmotic Learning
"A lot of the learning at the start here is rather absorbed naturally," stated the CEO.
It's via this osmosis that the family are aiming the child will acquire the English characteristics they want to impart.
He said the tutor needed to be an individual who went to "the right kinds of schools – comparable categories of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The instructor just has to be the suitable individual, they'll be carrying out things they don't even know they're doing, simply by nature," he said.
Cost Not Relevant
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 inspire the child in a broad spectrum of interests.
Furthermore though, he said the family desired the tutor to sign up the child on a range of lessons so the child would be "pony-riding and starting an musical instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's perspective, assisting their son develop into a "UK sophisticate" will result in success and open doors.
"Taking into account the rights and wrongs of that, because it's undoubtedly a social class indicator," he comments.
But, notwithstanding all this instruction in "Britishness", would the child absorb so-called cultural influence from the multicultural family he resides with regardless?
"Absolutely", said the CEO. "The family realize this might not succeed, but they've simply adopted the attitude of, 'we should try and we'll proceed as quickly as we can', because the cost of it is not relevant," he explained.
Overly Optimistic
Several in the tutoring industry who have these reservations.
An education leader, chief executive of a tutoring service, who also offer private tutors, wrote that "the development of becoming bicultural, or in fact, forming one's identity, is something that must be grown into, not designed."
He noted that he had relocated from China to the United Kingdom at the period of 7 years old, and had been educated understanding and embodying two backgrounds. He went on to be educated at a prestigious UK institution.
"The concept that one individual can serve as a embodiment of English culture, an individual who can possibly impart the characteristics of a UK sophisticate to a infant child, seems to me optimistic and unrealistic," he wrote.
"In my experience, having a distinctly British tutor from babyhood will will not automatically produce the result they hope for.
"I did not have such a figure, and yet I have been privileged enough to experience many of the situations they desire for their son."
He added: "The truth is, personal identity should not be imposed from the outside; it must be embraced, and it must come from within."
Purchasing UK Culture
Of course, English culture is something the expert believes can be instructed – and marketed.
"In my view the reality that the global community regards us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
