"A household residing in North London is looking for an remarkable and qualified educator to guide their most junior child on his initial journey to growing into an English gentleman."
Looking at this advertisement, you might naturally miss the wording "first-steps" as simple a turn of phrase.
However, it might be the most important part of this unique employment listing, as it seeks to recruit a tutor for a infant.
Hundreds of submissions have since been received since the unnamed family published their call for the highly paid tutor, who must be "an exceptional individual".
In recent few weeks, the post has gained attention across the press, with several asking why?
Forward-Thinking Method
A tutoring expert, CEO and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is assisting the family in their quest, said that despite first scepticism, he found the concept "forward-looking", and "advanced".
When he consulted the family, he mentioned they understood the atypical aspect of their request, 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 elder sibling was five, and by that point "cultural bias had by then taken hold".
What exactly did the family mean by "cultural leaning"?
It's "everything", Adam responded. "The manner you eat, how you speak".
He said the older sibling had absorbed "very nuanced, body language" from the family, and had taken on their cultural ways. The family informed him they wished to avoid the same situation to repeat itself with their new baby.
The intention: To engage a UK tutor, who should speak with Received Pronunciation, to shape the baby from day one.
Osmotic Learning
"A lot of the development at the beginning here is kind of absorbed naturally," said Adam.
It's through this subtle influence that the family are expecting the child will pick up the English characteristics they wish to instil.
The consultant said the tutor had to be an individual who attended "prestigious academies – the same kinds of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The tutor just has to be the right kind of person, they'll be performing things they don't even know they're doing, effortlessly," he added.
Expense Not a Factor
The family told the expert the chosen tutor should ideally also have knowledge of or enthusiasm in horse riding, skiing, the arts and music so as to influence the child in a broad spectrum of hobbies.
Furthermore though, he said the family wanted the tutor to register the child on a range of courses so the child would be "equestrian training and picking up an instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's minds, guiding their son grow into a "English gentleman" will bring about accomplishment and provide access.
"Taking into account the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's definitely a status symbol," he comments.
However, in spite of all this instruction in "English culture", might the child absorb alleged cultural leaning from the globally influenced family he lives with in any case?
"Certainly", replied Adam. "They realize this could fail, but they've just taken the perspective of, 'we should try and let's go as early as we can', because the expense of it is not a concern," he said.
Overly Optimistic
There are some in the tutoring industry who express these doubts.
Another CEO, head and founder of a tutoring service, who provides individual instructors, wrote that "the process of embracing two identities, or in fact, discovering oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not engineered."
The expert noted that he had emigrated from the Far East to the UK at the period of 7 years old, and had been educated knowing and practicing both cultures. He progressed to learn at a prestigious UK institution.
"The concept that an individual can act as a embodiment of UK identity, an individual who can possibly impart the characteristics of a British gentleman to a infant child, appears optimistic and impractical," he wrote.
"In my experience, engaging a quintessentially English tutor from babyhood will does not automatically achieve the result they desire.
"I never had that kind of mentor, and yet I have been privileged enough to enjoy several of the experiences they aspire for their son."
He added: "The reality is, personal identity cannot be dictated from the outside influences; it must be selected, and it must come from within."
Acquiring Englishness
Certainly, Britishness is something the expert thinks can be educated – and commercialized.
"I believe the situation that the global community regards us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
