"Parents located in North London wants to find an extraordinary and experienced educator to guide their youngest child on his initial journey to growing into an English gentleman."
Upon seeing this advertisement, you might readily overlook the wording "first-steps" as simple figurative language.
But, it might be the crucial aspect of this distinctive job advert, as it aims to hire a teacher for a 12-month-old.
Hundreds of applications have since been submitted since the unnamed family posted their call for the highly paid tutor, who needs to be "someone very special".
In recent few weeks, the post has received notice in the press, with several wondering why?
Forward-Thinking Method
Adam Caller, head and founder of Tutors International, which is supporting the family in their search, explained that notwithstanding initial scepticism, he viewed the concept "visionary", and "progressive".
When he consulted the family, he said they appreciated the unconventional character of their demand, and how early in age their son is.
Nevertheless, they stated that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had waited until their firstborn was five, and by that point "cultural bias had already become established".
But what did the family indicate by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "all-encompassing", the expert answered. "How you eat, the way you speak".
He stated the older sibling had adopted "very nuanced, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had assumed their cultural ways. The family told Adam they hoped to prevent this pattern to recur with their infant.
The plan: To bring in a British tutor, who needs to speak with standard English accent, to influence the baby right from the beginning.
Osmotic Learning
"A great deal of the development at the beginning here is kind of osmotic," said Adam.
It's via this subtle influence that the family are expecting the child will acquire the British traits they want to impart.
Adam noted the tutor had to be someone who went to "the appropriate educational institutions – the same kinds of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The educator just has to be the right kind of person, they'll be performing things they don't even know they're doing, simply by nature," he added.
Money No Object
The family told the expert the chosen tutor should preferably also have familiarity of or enthusiasm in horse riding, skiing, creative fields and music so as to inspire the child in a wide range of passions.
Additionally though, he explained the family hoped the tutor to register the child on a selection of courses so the child would be "equestrian training and learning an instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's view, helping their son become a "UK sophisticate" will bring about accomplishment and open doors.
"For all the rights and wrongs of that, because it's certainly a class statement," he adds.
But, notwithstanding all this instruction in "English culture", could the child pick up so-called cultural influence from the multicultural family he lives with regardless?
"Absolutely", replied Adam. "They understand this might not succeed, but they've just taken the view of, 'we should try and we should start as early as we can', because the expense of it is not a concern," he stated.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
Several in the private teaching field who have those concerns.
Peter Cui, chief executive of a tutoring service, who supplies individual instructors, commented that "the process of adopting dual cultures, or in fact, becoming oneself, is something that must be lived into, not designed."
He noted that he had relocated from the Far East to the Britain at the age of 7 years old, and had been educated knowing and embodying both cultures. He continued to be educated at a prestigious UK institution.
"The idea that a single person can serve as a living vessel of Britishness, someone who can somehow transfer the attributes of a British gentleman to a 12-month-old child, seems to me idealistic and impractical," he stated.
"Based on my background, employing a typically UK tutor from early childhood will will not automatically create the result they hope for.
"I never had such a figure, and nevertheless I have been privileged enough to experience numerous of the situations they aspire for their son."
He stated: "The fact is, cultural identity cannot be forced from the outside influences; it must be selected, and it must be internally driven."
Buying Britishness
Naturally, English culture is something Adam thinks can be taught – and sold.
"I think the reality that the international society holds us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
