"A family based in north London wants to find an extraordinary and skilled tutor to guide their most junior child on his early path to growing into an British gentleman."
Looking at this listing, you might easily miss the term "first-steps" as simple an expression.
But, it could be the most significant part of this unusual employment listing, as it attempts to find a teacher for a infant.
Hundreds of responses have since been submitted since the unidentified family advertised their search for the highly paid tutor, who needs to be "a uniquely qualified person".
In recent few weeks, the advert has attracted attention throughout the media, with several asking why?
Progressive Approach
The CEO, head and founder of an education consultancy, which is supporting the family in their quest, said that despite initial scepticism, he found the plan "visionary", and "progressive".
When he spoke with the family, he said they appreciated the unusual aspect of their requirement, and how immature their son is.
But, they explained that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had waited until their elder sibling was five, and by that stage "cultural conditioning had by then become established".
What exactly does the family refer to by "cultural leaning"?
It's "all-encompassing", Adam answered. "How you eat, how you speak".
He stated the elder child had absorbed "extremely delicate, unspoken signals" from the family, and had adopted their cultural ways. The family told him they wished to avoid this pattern to repeat itself with their new baby.
The intention: To bring in a English tutor, who needs to speak with Received Pronunciation, to guide the baby from day one.
Subtle Influence
"Much of the learning at the outset here is rather osmotic," stated Adam.
It's through this osmosis that the family are expecting the child will pick up the UK customs they wish to impart.
Adam explained the tutor must be an individual who attended "prestigious academies – comparable categories of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The educator must be the appropriate candidate, they'll be performing things they may not realize they're doing, effortlessly," he added.
Cost Not Relevant
The family informed Adam the chosen tutor should ideally also have knowledge of or interest in equestrian activities, skiing, artistic pursuits and music so as to inspire the child in a wide range of hobbies.
Additionally though, he explained the family desired the tutor to sign up the child on a selection of courses so the child would be "equestrian training and learning an tool by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's perspective, assisting their son become a "UK sophisticate" will bring about accomplishment and create opportunities.
"For all the pros and cons of that, because it's undoubtedly a status symbol," he comments.
Yet, notwithstanding all this tutelage in "UK identity", would the child absorb so-called cultural influence from the globally influenced family he resides with regardless?
"Yes", answered the CEO. "They know this could fail, but they've just taken the view of, 'we should try and we should start as quickly as we can', because the cost of it is not relevant," he stated.
Impractical
Several in the tutoring industry who share similar reservations.
Peter Cui, CEO and founder of a tutoring service, who also offer private tutors, wrote that "the process of embracing two identities, or in fact, forming one's identity, is something that must be grown into, not designed."
The expert wrote that he had emigrated from the Far East to the United Kingdom at the period of childhood, and had been raised understanding and practicing both cultures. He continued to learn at Cambridge University.
"The concept that one individual can function as a living vessel of English culture, an individual who can possibly impart the attributes of a British gentleman upon a 12-month-old child, strikes me as naive and unfeasible," he stated.
"From my perspective, having a typically British tutor from babyhood will will not automatically achieve the outcome they hope for.
"I never had such a figure, and yet I have been fortunate enough to experience many of the situations they desire for their son."
He added: "The fact is, cultural identity should not be dictated from the outside; it must be chosen, and it must be internally driven."
Acquiring Englishness
Of course, Britishness is something the CEO thinks can be educated – and commercialized.
"In my view the reality that the international society views us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
