"A household based in north London is looking for an exceptional and skilled educator to guide their youngest child on his early path to turning into an English gentleman."
Looking at this post, you might easily skip the wording "first-steps" as simple figurative language.
Yet, it might be the most significant part of this unusual job advert, as it seeks to recruit a tutor for a infant.
Many of applications have now been submitted since the unidentified family published their search for the highly paid tutor, who has to be "a uniquely qualified person".
In recent few weeks, the listing has gained notice across the press, with several wondering why?
Forward-Thinking Method
A tutoring expert, head and founder of an education consultancy, which is supporting the family in their quest, explained that notwithstanding first skepticism, he considered the concept "forward-looking", and "advanced".
When he consulted the family, he noted they understood the unusual nature of their requirement, and how immature their son is.
But, they explained that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to get a tutor, as they had held off until their elder sibling was five, and by that stage "cultural influence had by then set in".
What precisely did the family mean by "cultural leaning"?
It's "comprehensive", the expert responded. "The way you eat, the manner you speak".
He stated the older sibling had picked up "really subtle, unspoken signals" from the family, and had adopted their cultural ways. The family explained to him they did not want history to happen again with their younger child.
The plan: To hire a British tutor, who must speak with Received Pronunciation, to guide the baby right from the beginning.
Osmotic Learning
"Much of the education at the beginning here is rather osmotic," said the expert.
It's through this osmosis that the family are expecting the child will pick up the English characteristics they want to instil.
The consultant explained the tutor needed to be someone who studied at "the right kinds of schools – comparable categories of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The instructor must be the right kind of person, they'll be performing things they don't even know they're doing, effortlessly," he added.
Money No Object
The family told Adam the chosen tutor should preferably also have familiarity of or passion in riding, skiing, creative fields and musical activities so as to shape the child in a broad spectrum of interests.
Furthermore though, he stated the family wanted the tutor to register the child on a range of classes so the child would be "pony-riding and learning an tool by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's perspective, guiding their son become a "English gentleman" will lead to achievement and provide access.
"Considering the rights and wrongs of that, because it's certainly a class statement," he comments.
Yet, despite all this guidance in "English culture", would the child absorb what is termed cultural leaning from the international family he resides with regardless?
"Certainly", said Adam. "The family realize this might not succeed, but they've just taken the attitude of, 'let's give it a go and we'll proceed as soon as we can', because the price of it is not relevant," he stated.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
Several in the education sector who have those doubts.
An education leader, head and founder of Blue Education, who supplies private tutors, stated that "the process of adopting dual cultures, or indeed, becoming oneself, is something that must be lived into, not engineered."
Peter explained that he had moved from China to the United Kingdom at the period of childhood, and had been raised knowing and practicing two backgrounds. He continued to learn at Cambridge University.
"The notion that an individual can function as a living vessel of Britishness, an individual who can possibly transplant the characteristics of a British gentleman to a one-year-old child, strikes me as naive and impractical," he stated.
"In my experience, having a quintessentially UK tutor from infancy will will not necessarily achieve the outcome they want.
"I wasn't provided with that kind of mentor, and nevertheless I have been fortunate enough to experience several of the experiences they hope for their son."
He stated: "The fact is, cultural identity cannot be imposed from the outside influences; it must be selected, and it must originate internally."
Buying Britishness
Certainly, English culture is something Adam hopes can be instructed – and marketed.
"I believe the reality that the world regards us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
