"A family based in north London is looking for an remarkable and experienced educator to guide their youngest child on his initial journey to growing into an British gentleman."
When reading this post, you might easily skip the phrase "first-steps" as simple a turn of phrase.
But, it could be the most significant part of this distinctive position posting, as it attempts to hire a tutor for a 12-month-old.
Hundreds of applications have since been submitted since the unidentified family advertised their call for the £180k-a-year tutor, who needs to be "someone very special".
In recent few weeks, the advert has attracted notice throughout the news, with many questioning why?
Progressive Approach
Adam Caller, CEO and founder of an education consultancy, which is helping the family in their search, said that notwithstanding first doubt, he viewed the idea "far sighted", and "advanced".
When he met the family, he mentioned they appreciated the atypical aspect of their demand, and how young their son is.
Nevertheless, they stated that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had postponed until their elder sibling was five, and by that age "cultural influence had already taken hold".
What precisely does the family mean by "cultural bias"?
It's "everything", he responded. "The way you eat, the manner you speak".
He said the firstborn had picked up "very nuanced, body language" from the family, and had adopted their cultural habits. The family explained to him they hoped to prevent this pattern to recur with their new baby.
The intention: To engage a UK tutor, who should speak with standard English accent, to shape the baby right from the beginning.
Osmotic Learning
"A lot of the education at the beginning here is rather absorbed naturally," said Adam.
It's by means of this osmosis that the family are aiming the child will adopt the UK customs they wish to impart.
He said the tutor must be somebody who went to "the appropriate educational institutions – the same kinds of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The instructor simply needs to be the suitable individual, they'll be doing things they aren't even aware they're doing, just naturally," he commented.
Expense Not a Factor
The family explained to the expert the successful candidate should ideally also have familiarity of or interest in riding, skiing, artistic pursuits and instrumental training so as to shape the child in a broad spectrum of passions.
More than that though, he said the family hoped the tutor to enrol the child on a selection of courses 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 minds, helping their son become a "UK sophisticate" will lead to accomplishment and create opportunities.
"Considering the pros and cons of that, because it's definitely a class statement," he adds.
But, notwithstanding all this guidance in "Britishness", might the child adopt so-called cultural leaning from the multicultural family he lives with anyway?
"Absolutely", replied the CEO. "The parents realize this might not succeed, but they've merely embraced the view of, 'let's give it a go and we'll proceed as quickly as we can', because the cost of it is not relevant," he stated.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
Several in the education sector who share those doubts.
An education leader, CEO and founder of a tutoring service, who supplies private tutors, stated that "the journey of becoming bicultural, or actually, discovering oneself, is something that must be grown into, not manufactured."
The expert explained that he had relocated from Asia to the Britain at the age of seven, and had been raised experiencing and practicing both cultures. He continued to be educated at Cambridge University.
"The concept that one individual can serve as a living vessel of Britishness, someone who can possibly transplant the qualities of a English gentleman to a one-year-old child, appears idealistic and impractical," he commented.
"In my experience, having a distinctly English tutor from babyhood will does not automatically achieve the result they hope for.
"I never had such a figure, and however I have been lucky enough to enjoy several of the opportunities they hope for their son."
He added: "The truth is, self-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 the CEO hopes can be taught – and marketed.
"In my view the reality that the international society views us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
