"A family located in the northern part of London is looking for an remarkable and experienced instructor to support their youngest child on his early path to turning into an English gentleman."
Upon seeing this listing, you might naturally miss the wording "first-steps" as mere an expression.
Yet, it could be the crucial element of this unusual job advert, as it aims to recruit a mentor for a 12-month-old.
Numerous of responses have already been sent in since the unnamed family posted their call for the £180,000 per year tutor, who has to be "a uniquely qualified person".
Over the last few weeks, the listing has received attention in the news, with many wondering why?
Forward-Thinking Method
Adam Caller, chief executive of Tutors International, which is helping the family in their search, said that despite first doubt, he viewed the idea "visionary", and "innovative".
When he met the family, he mentioned they appreciated the unconventional character of their requirement, and how early in age their son is.
However, they stated that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to get a tutor, as they had postponed until their older child was five, and by that age "cultural bias had by then set in".
What exactly does the family mean by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "comprehensive", Adam replied. "How you eat, the way you speak".
He stated the elder child had absorbed "very nuanced, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had assumed their cultural ways. The family informed the consultant they wished to avoid history to happen again with their infant.
The intention: To engage a English tutor, who should speak with RP, to shape the baby from the very start.
Subtle Influence
"Much of the education at the beginning here is kind of absorbed naturally," stated the expert.
It's through this subtle influence that the family are aiming the child will adopt the English characteristics they aim to impart.
He said the tutor had to be someone who attended "prestigious academies – the same kinds of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The educator must be the suitable individual, they'll be doing things they don't even know they're doing, simply by nature," he commented.
Expense Not a Factor
The family told him the successful candidate should preferably also have familiarity of or passion in equestrian activities, skiing, creative fields and instrumental training so as to influence the child in a diverse set of passions.
More than that though, he stated the family hoped the tutor to enrol the child on a selection of lessons so the child would be "equestrian training and learning an musical instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's perspective, helping their son become a "UK sophisticate" will lead to success and provide access.
"For all the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's undoubtedly a status symbol," he notes.
Yet, in spite of all this guidance in "UK identity", could the child absorb what is termed cultural bias from the globally influenced family he lives with anyway?
"Yes", answered Adam. "The family understand this might not succeed, but they've just taken the perspective of, 'why not attempt it and we should start as early as we can', because the expense of it is not a concern," he explained.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
Several in the education sector who have these reservations.
An education leader, head and founder of a tutoring service, who provides individual instructors, commented that "the journey of becoming bicultural, or indeed, becoming oneself, is something that must be grown into, not engineered."
Peter wrote that he had moved from China to the UK at the period of childhood, and had been brought up knowing and practicing both cultures. He continued to learn at a prestigious UK institution.
"The concept that one individual can act as a representation of UK identity, a person who can in some way transfer the characteristics of a English gentleman to a one-year-old child, strikes me as naive and impractical," he stated.
"In my experience, having a typically English tutor from babyhood will not instantly achieve the outcome they hope for.
"I did not have such a figure, and yet I have been lucky enough to experience several of the situations they desire for their son."
He stated: "The reality is, personal identity cannot be forced from the outside; it must be embraced, and it must come from within."
Acquiring Englishness
Naturally, Britishness is something the expert believes can be taught – and marketed.
"In my view the reality that the global community views us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
