"Parents residing in the northern part of London wants to find an extraordinary and experienced instructor to guide their smallest child on his early path to turning into an British gentleman."
When reading this listing, you might readily skip the phrase "first-steps" as simple an expression.
However, it may be the most significant aspect of this distinctive position posting, as it seeks to recruit a tutor for a 12-month-old.
Many of responses have already been received since the anonymous family advertised their search for the £180k-a-year tutor, who needs to be "an exceptional individual".
Over the last few weeks, the advert has gained notice in the press, with many asking why?
Progressive Approach
A tutoring expert, chief executive of an education consultancy, which is supporting the family in their search, explained that notwithstanding early skepticism, he viewed the plan "far sighted", and "advanced".
When he met the family, he noted they understood the atypical character of their requirement, and how early in age their son is.
But, they explained that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to get a tutor, as they had held off until their elder sibling was five, and by that age "cultural bias had already become established".
But what does the family mean by "cultural bias"?
It's "everything", the expert responded. "The way you eat, the way you speak".
He said the firstborn had picked up "really subtle, unspoken signals" from the family, and had taken on their cultural habits. The family explained to the consultant they hoped to prevent this pattern to happen again with their new baby.
The strategy: To engage a British tutor, who must speak with RP, to influence the baby from the very start.
Natural Absorption
"A great deal of the learning at the beginning here is somewhat absorbed naturally," explained the expert.
It's through this osmosis that the family are expecting the child will acquire the UK customs they want to instil.
The consultant explained the tutor had to be somebody who studied at "the right kinds of schools – comparable categories of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The tutor simply needs to be the suitable individual, they'll be carrying out things they aren't even aware they're doing, effortlessly," he added.
Money No Object
The family informed him the successful candidate should ideally also have understanding of or interest in equestrian activities, winter sports, artistic pursuits and instrumental training so as to inspire the child in a wide range of interests.
Additionally though, he said the family hoped the tutor to register the child on a range of lessons so the child would be "pony-riding and learning an tool by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's minds, assisting their son grow into a "British gentleman" will bring about accomplishment and open doors.
"For all the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's undoubtedly a status symbol," he comments.
However, notwithstanding all this instruction in "English culture", could the child pick up so-called cultural influence from the globally influenced family he lives with anyway?
"Certainly", replied Adam. "The family understand this may not work, but they've simply adopted the attitude of, 'why not attempt it and let's go as quickly as we can', because the expense of it is not relevant," he explained.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
Several in the education sector who share those reservations.
An education leader, head and founder of a tutoring service, who also offer private tutors, commented that "the process of becoming bicultural, or in fact, forming one's identity, is something that must be experienced personally, not manufactured."
He wrote that he had emigrated from Asia to the UK at the age of seven, and had been educated understanding and practicing dual heritages. He progressed to be educated at a prestigious UK institution.
"The notion that a single person can serve as a representation of Britishness, an individual who can somehow transplant the qualities of a British gentleman to a one-year-old child, seems to me idealistic and impractical," he commented.
"From my perspective, engaging a quintessentially UK tutor from infancy will not instantly produce the goal they hope for.
"I did not have that kind of mentor, and nevertheless I have been privileged enough to experience many of the opportunities they desire for their son."
He continued: "The reality is, self-identity cannot be forced from the outside influences; it must be selected, and it must come from within."
Buying Britishness
Of course, UK identity is something Adam believes can be taught – and marketed.
"I believe the situation that the world regards us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
