"A household residing in north London wants to find an exceptional and qualified tutor to support their smallest child on his initial journey to becoming an English gentleman."
Upon seeing this advertisement, you might easily miss the wording "first-steps" as just figurative language.
But, it could be the most important part of this distinctive employment listing, as it attempts to hire a teacher for a 12-month-old.
Numerous of applications have already been submitted since the unnamed family posted their search for the £180,000 per year tutor, who needs to be "someone very special".
Over the last few weeks, the advert has attracted interest in the media, with several questioning why?
Forward-Thinking Method
A tutoring expert, chief executive of an education consultancy, which is assisting the family in their hunt, said that in spite of initial skepticism, he considered the idea "forward-looking", and "advanced".
When he spoke with the family, he mentioned they understood the atypical aspect of their demand, and how young their son is.
However, they clarified that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had held off until their firstborn was five, and by that point "cultural bias had by then taken hold".
What precisely did the family indicate by "cultural leaning"?
It's "comprehensive", he responded. "How you eat, the manner you speak".
He said the elder child had picked up "extremely delicate, unspoken signals" from the family, and had assumed their cultural habits. The family informed him they hoped to prevent this pattern to happen again with their younger child.
The plan: To bring in a British tutor, who must speak with Received Pronunciation, to influence the baby from day one.
Osmotic Learning
"A great deal of the learning at the outset here is kind of osmotic," said Adam.
It's via this natural absorption that the family are aiming the child will pick up the UK customs they want to instil.
He explained the tutor must be somebody who attended "the appropriate educational institutions – comparable categories of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The tutor simply needs to be the suitable individual, they'll be performing things they may not realize they're doing, effortlessly," he said.
Cost Not Relevant
The family explained to Adam the successful candidate should ideally also have understanding of or interest in riding, winter sports, the arts and instrumental training so as to influence the child in a wide range of passions.
Additionally though, he explained the family hoped the tutor to enrol the child on a variety of classes so the child would be "horseback riding and learning an tool by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's view, assisting their son become a "British gentleman" will result in accomplishment and open doors.
"For all the rights and wrongs of that, because it's certainly a status symbol," he comments.
But, notwithstanding all this tutelage in "UK identity", might the child pick up what is termed cultural influence from the international family he is raised by in any case?
"Yes", said the CEO. "The family realize this may not work, but they've just taken the attitude of, 'we should try and let's go as quickly as we can', because the cost of it is irrelevant," he stated.
Overly Optimistic
There are some in the education sector who have these reservations.
An education leader, chief executive of a tutoring service, who also offer personal educators, stated that "the process of embracing two identities, or actually, becoming oneself, is something that must be grown into, not designed."
He noted that he had moved from China to the UK at the time of childhood, and had been raised knowing and embodying both cultures. He progressed to be educated at a prestigious UK institution.
"The idea that a single person can serve as a embodiment of UK identity, someone who can in some way transfer the characteristics of a English gentleman onto a infant child, strikes me as optimistic and unrealistic," he commented.
"In my experience, engaging a distinctly English tutor from babyhood will not necessarily produce the result they want.
"I never had that kind of mentor, and yet I have been privileged enough to enjoy numerous of the opportunities they aspire for their son."
He stated: "The truth is, personal identity can not be imposed from the outside; it must be embraced, and it must be internally driven."
Buying Britishness
Of course, UK identity is something the expert believes can be educated – and sold.
"I believe the fact that the international society views us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
