"A household based in north London wants to find an extraordinary and experienced instructor to guide their smallest child on his initial journey to turning into an English gentleman."
Upon seeing this listing, you might easily skip the phrase "first-steps" as just a turn of phrase.
However, it may be the crucial part of this unique position posting, as it aims to find a tutor for a 12-month-old.
Many of responses have already been submitted since the anonymous family published their request for the highly paid tutor, who needs to be "a uniquely qualified person".
During the past few weeks, the listing has received notice in the media, with several questioning why?
Innovative Idea
A tutoring expert, CEO and founder of an education consultancy, which is assisting the family in their hunt, said that in spite of early scepticism, he considered the idea "visionary", and "advanced".
When he spoke with the family, he noted they recognized the unusual character of their request, and how immature their son is.
Nevertheless, they explained that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had held off until their older child was five, and by that point "cultural bias had already become established".
What exactly does the family refer to by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "comprehensive", he replied. "How you eat, the manner you speak".
He said the elder child had adopted "really subtle, unspoken signals" from the family, and had adopted their cultural norms. The family informed Adam they did not want the same situation to happen again with their younger child.
The plan: To hire a English tutor, who needs to speak with standard English accent, to guide the baby from the very start.
Natural Absorption
"A lot of the education at the beginning here is kind of acquired indirectly," stated the expert.
It's via this subtle influence that the family are hoping the child will pick up the English characteristics they aim to instil.
Adam said the tutor needed to be an individual who went to "the appropriate educational institutions – comparable categories of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The tutor just has to be the suitable individual, they'll be performing things they aren't even aware they're doing, just naturally," he commented.
Expense Not a Factor
The family informed Adam the successful candidate should preferably also have familiarity of or interest in horse riding, skiing, the arts and musical activities so as to shape the child in a wide range of hobbies.
Additionally though, he stated the family desired the tutor to register the child on a range of lessons so the child would be "horseback riding and starting an musical instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's perspective, helping their son grow into a "UK sophisticate" will result in accomplishment and open doors.
"Taking into account the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's definitely a status symbol," he adds.
But, in spite of all this guidance in "English culture", could the child adopt alleged cultural influence from the international family he lives with regardless?
"Yes", said the CEO. "They know this may not work, but they've simply adopted the perspective of, 'let's give it a go and let's go as early as we can', because the expense of it is not relevant," he explained.
Impractical
A number of in the tutoring industry who express these doubts.
Another CEO, CEO and founder of Blue Education, who provides private tutors, commented that "the journey of embracing two identities, or in fact, becoming oneself, is something that must be grown into, not engineered."
Peter noted that he had moved from the Far East to the Britain at the time of seven, and had been educated knowing and embodying two backgrounds. He continued to be educated at a prestigious UK institution.
"The notion that one individual can function as a embodiment of UK identity, someone who can somehow transplant the characteristics of a UK sophisticate onto a one-year-old child, appears naive and unfeasible," he stated.
"Based on my background, having a typically English tutor from babyhood will will not necessarily achieve the result they want.
"I never had such a figure, and however I have been privileged enough to live several of the experiences they hope for their son."
He continued: "The truth is, cultural identity cannot be dictated from the external environment; it must be selected, and it must be internally driven."
Buying Britishness
Certainly, UK identity is something the CEO thinks can be taught – and marketed.
"In my view the fact that the world holds us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
