"A household based in the northern part of London seeks an exceptional and qualified tutor to support their youngest child on his initial journey to turning into an English gentleman."
Upon seeing this post, you might readily overlook the wording "first-steps" as just figurative language.
But, it may be the most important aspect of this unique employment listing, as it attempts to find a tutor for a 12-month-old.
Hundreds of applications have already been submitted since the unnamed family advertised their search for the £180,000 per year tutor, who has to be "someone very special".
Over the last few weeks, the advert has gained notice across the media, with many asking why?
Innovative Idea
Adam Caller, CEO and founder of an education consultancy, which is helping the family in their quest, said that despite initial skepticism, he found the plan "visionary", and "advanced".
When he spoke with the family, he mentioned they appreciated the unconventional nature of their request, and how young their son is.
But, they explained that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had waited until their older child was five, and by that stage "cultural bias had already set in".
What exactly did the family mean by "cultural bias"?
It's "everything", the expert replied. "How you eat, how you speak".
He explained the elder child had picked up "really subtle, unspoken signals" from the family, and had taken on their cultural ways. The family told Adam they did not want the same situation to happen again with their new baby.
The strategy: To engage a English tutor, who should speak with standard English accent, to influence the baby from day one.
Subtle Influence
"A great deal of the development at the outset here is kind of absorbed naturally," said the CEO.
It's via this osmosis that the family are aiming the child will adopt the English characteristics they aim to instil.
He explained the tutor needed to be somebody who went to "prestigious academies – similar types of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The tutor simply needs to be the right kind of person, they'll be performing things they may not realize they're doing, effortlessly," he said.
Money No Object
The family explained to Adam the successful candidate should ideally also have knowledge of or enthusiasm in riding, winter sports, the arts and music so as to shape the child in a diverse set of hobbies.
Furthermore though, he stated the family hoped the tutor to sign up the child on a selection of classes so the child would be "equestrian training and starting an musical instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's minds, assisting their son become a "UK sophisticate" will result in accomplishment and create opportunities.
"Considering the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's undoubtedly a status symbol," he adds.
But, in spite of all this guidance in "UK identity", would the child absorb what is termed cultural leaning from the globally influenced family he is raised by in any case?
"Certainly", replied he. "They understand this might not succeed, but they've simply adopted the perspective of, 'why not attempt it and we'll proceed as quickly as we can', because the cost of it is not relevant," he said.
Impractical
A number of in the tutoring industry who have similar reservations.
Another CEO, CEO and founder of a tutoring service, who provides individual instructors, commented that "the development of adopting dual cultures, or in fact, discovering oneself, is something that must be grown into, not designed."
He wrote that he had relocated from China to the Britain at the age of seven, and had been raised experiencing and living both cultures. He progressed to study at a prestigious UK institution.
"The concept that an individual can serve as a living vessel of English culture, a person who can possibly transplant the attributes of a British gentleman upon a one-year-old child, seems to me idealistic and unfeasible," he wrote.
"Based on my background, engaging a distinctly UK tutor from infancy will not instantly achieve the outcome they want.
"I wasn't provided with that kind of mentor, and yet I have been privileged enough to experience numerous of the opportunities they hope for their son."
He continued: "The fact is, personal identity should not be imposed from the outside; it must be selected, and it must come from within."
Buying Britishness
Certainly, Britishness is something the expert believes can be educated – and marketed.
"In my view the fact that the world regards us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
