"Parents based in North London wants to find an exceptional and qualified educator to guide their most junior child on his initial journey to growing into an British gentleman."
Looking at this listing, you might naturally overlook the term "first-steps" as just an expression.
Yet, it may be the most important part of this distinctive position posting, as it aims to hire a teacher for a 12-month-old.
Numerous of responses have now been submitted since the unidentified family advertised their search for the £180,000 per year tutor, who needs to be "someone very special".
Over the last few weeks, the listing has gained interest in the press, with several wondering why?
Forward-Thinking Method
A tutoring expert, head and founder of an education consultancy, which is helping the family in their quest, explained that notwithstanding initial doubt, he viewed the concept "visionary", and "progressive".
When he met the family, he said they appreciated the atypical nature of their requirement, and how immature their son is.
Nevertheless, they explained that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had waited until their elder sibling was five, and by that point "cultural conditioning had already set in".
What precisely did the family refer to by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "everything", he replied. "The way you eat, the manner you speak".
He said the elder child had absorbed "extremely delicate, body language" from the family, and had adopted their cultural norms. The family explained to Adam they hoped to prevent history to repeat itself with their infant.
The strategy: To engage a British tutor, who needs to speak with standard English accent, to guide the baby from day one.
Natural Absorption
"A great deal of the education at the start here is somewhat absorbed naturally," said the CEO.
It's by means of this subtle influence that the family are aiming the child will pick up the English characteristics they wish to cultivate.
Adam said the tutor had to be someone who attended "prestigious academies – similar types of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The educator just has to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be doing things they don't even know they're doing, just naturally," he said.
Expense Not a Factor
The family informed the expert the chosen tutor should ideally also have understanding of or interest in equestrian activities, skiing, artistic pursuits and musical activities so as to shape the child in a diverse set of interests.
Additionally though, he explained the family wanted the tutor to enrol the child on a variety of classes so the child would be "pony-riding and picking up an tool by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's perspective, helping their son develop into a "UK sophisticate" will bring about achievement and open doors.
"For all the pros and cons of that, because it's definitely a status symbol," he comments.
Yet, despite all this guidance in "UK identity", would the child absorb alleged cultural bias from the globally influenced family he is raised by anyway?
"Certainly", said the CEO. "The parents know this may not work, but they've merely embraced the view of, 'why not attempt it and let's go as early as we can', because the cost of it is irrelevant," he explained.
Impractical
There are some in the education sector who express those doubts.
Peter Cui, chief executive of an educational organization, who provides private tutors, commented that "the development of becoming bicultural, or in fact, becoming oneself, is something that must be grown into, not engineered."
Peter explained that he had moved from China to the UK at the period of 7 years old, and had been raised understanding and embodying both cultures. He progressed to learn at Cambridge University.
"The notion that one individual can function as a representation of English culture, someone who can somehow transfer the qualities of a English gentleman onto a 12-month-old child, appears optimistic and unrealistic," he stated.
"In my experience, engaging a quintessentially British tutor from early childhood will does not instantly produce the outcome they desire.
"I did not have that kind of mentor, and yet I have been lucky enough to live several of the experiences they hope for their son."
He continued: "The reality is, self-identity cannot be imposed from the outside; it must be chosen, and it must originate internally."
Purchasing UK Culture
Of course, Britishness is something Adam hopes can be instructed – and commercialized.
"I think the fact that the world holds us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
