"Parents located in the northern part of London wants to find an extraordinary and qualified tutor to guide their smallest child on his early path to turning into an English gentleman."
Looking at this listing, you might easily skip the wording "first-steps" as simple a turn of phrase.
However, it could be the most significant part of this unusual job advert, as it attempts to find a mentor for a 12-month-old.
Many of submissions have now been sent in since the unidentified family published their call for the £180k-a-year tutor, who has to be "a uniquely qualified person".
Over the last few weeks, the listing has received attention in the news, with numerous wondering why?
Innovative Idea
The CEO, CEO and founder of an education consultancy, which is assisting the family in their search, stated that notwithstanding early skepticism, he considered the plan "far sighted", and "innovative".
When he met the family, he said they appreciated the atypical character of their requirement, and how immature their son is.
However, they clarified that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had postponed until their older child was five, and by that age "cultural bias had by then set in".
But what does the family mean by "cultural bias"?
It's "everything", he answered. "The way you eat, the manner you speak".
He said the firstborn had picked up "very nuanced, body language" from the family, and had taken on their cultural norms. The family explained to Adam they wished to avoid this pattern to happen again with their younger child.
The strategy: To bring in a UK tutor, who needs to speak with standard English accent, to guide the baby from the very start.
Osmotic Learning
"A lot of the education at the start here is rather absorbed naturally," explained the expert.
It's through this osmosis that the family are hoping the child will pick up the British traits they want to instil.
The consultant said the tutor had to be somebody who attended "prestigious academies – similar types of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The instructor must be the appropriate candidate, they'll be performing things they don't even know they're doing, simply by nature," he commented.
Expense Not a Factor
The family told him the chosen tutor should ideally also have familiarity of or interest in equestrian activities, winter sports, artistic pursuits and music so as to shape the child in a diverse set of interests.
Furthermore though, he explained the family hoped the tutor to register the child on a variety of classes so the child would be "equestrian training and learning an musical instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's view, guiding their son develop into a "English gentleman" will result in achievement and create opportunities.
"For all the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's undoubtedly a social class indicator," he comments.
But, despite all this guidance in "Britishness", could the child adopt alleged cultural bias from the multicultural family he is raised by regardless?
"Certainly", answered he. "They realize this might not succeed, but they've simply adopted the attitude 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 explained.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
Several in the tutoring industry who have similar doubts.
An education leader, CEO and founder of a tutoring service, who also offer private tutors, stated that "the development of adopting dual cultures, or in fact, becoming oneself, is something that must be grown into, not manufactured."
Peter noted that he had relocated from the Far East to the Britain at the period of seven, and had been educated understanding and living dual heritages. He continued to study at a prestigious UK institution.
"The idea that one individual can act as a living vessel of Britishness, someone who can in some way transplant the attributes of a British gentleman upon a infant child, strikes me as optimistic and unfeasible," he stated.
"In my experience, employing a typically UK tutor from infancy will does not necessarily produce the result they desire.
"I wasn't provided with such a tutor, and yet I have been lucky enough to experience numerous of the situations they desire for their son."
He added: "The reality is, cultural identity cannot be forced from the outside; it must be selected, and it must be internally driven."
Purchasing UK Culture
Certainly, Britishness is something Adam thinks can be instructed – and marketed.
"I believe the situation that the global community regards us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
