"A household located in North London seeks an remarkable and skilled tutor to support their smallest child on his early path to turning into an British gentleman."
Looking at this listing, you might easily miss the wording "first-steps" as mere a turn of phrase.
Yet, it may be the crucial aspect of this unusual employment listing, as it aims to recruit a mentor for a 12-month-old.
Hundreds of applications have now been sent in since the unnamed family published their call for the £180k-a-year tutor, who must be "someone very special".
Over the last few weeks, the listing has attracted notice in the news, with many asking why?
Forward-Thinking Method
A tutoring expert, chief executive of Tutors International, which is supporting the family in their hunt, explained that in spite of initial scepticism, he considered the idea "forward-looking", and "innovative".
When he met the family, he noted they understood the unusual aspect of their requirement, and how early in age their son is.
Nevertheless, they clarified that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had waited until their elder sibling was five, and by that stage "cultural influence had already taken hold".
What precisely did the family refer to by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "everything", Adam responded. "The manner you eat, the way you speak".
He said the firstborn had adopted "really subtle, unspoken signals" from the family, and had adopted their cultural habits. The family explained to Adam they did not want the same situation to recur with their younger child.
The strategy: To engage a UK tutor, who should speak with RP, to shape the baby from day one.
Natural Absorption
"Much of the education at the beginning here is kind of acquired indirectly," explained Adam.
It's by means of this osmosis that the family are hoping the child will acquire the UK customs they want to instil.
The consultant noted the tutor had to be someone who went to "prestigious academies – the same kinds of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The tutor must be the right kind of person, they'll be carrying out things they don't even know they're doing, effortlessly," he commented.
Money No Object
The family informed Adam the selected educator should preferably also have knowledge of or enthusiasm in equestrian activities, alpine skiing, artistic pursuits and instrumental training so as to influence the child in a wide range of hobbies.
More than that though, he stated the family hoped the tutor to sign up the child on a range of classes so the child would be "pony-riding and picking up an instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's perspective, guiding their son become a "British gentleman" will bring about accomplishment and provide access.
"For all the pros and cons of that, because it's certainly a social class indicator," he comments.
But, in spite of all this tutelage in "UK identity", could the child pick up alleged cultural bias from the globally influenced family he resides with regardless?
"Absolutely", answered the CEO. "The parents realize this may not work, but they've just taken the view of, 'let's give it a go and let's go as early as we can', because the expense of it is not a concern," he explained.
Overly Optimistic
A number of in the education sector who have those reservations.
Another CEO, head and founder of Blue Education, who supplies private tutors, wrote that "the development of becoming bicultural, or indeed, becoming oneself, is something that must be grown into, not manufactured."
Peter noted that he had moved from the Far East to the United Kingdom at the age of seven, and had been brought up understanding and embodying both cultures. He progressed to study at Cambridge University.
"The concept that one individual can act as a representation of Britishness, an individual who can possibly transplant the qualities of a English gentleman onto a infant child, appears optimistic and impractical," he wrote.
"In my experience, having a quintessentially English tutor from infancy will does not necessarily create the goal they desire.
"I never had such a figure, and nevertheless I have been privileged enough to experience numerous of the situations they hope for their son."
He added: "The reality is, personal identity should not be dictated from the outside; it must be selected, and it must be internally driven."
Purchasing UK Culture
Naturally, UK identity is something the CEO hopes can be taught – and marketed.
"I think the situation that the international society views us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
