"A family based in North London wants to find an exceptional and qualified educator to assist their most junior child on his initial journey to growing into an British gentleman."
Upon seeing this post, you might readily overlook the phrase "first-steps" as just an expression.
Yet, it could be the most important part of this unusual job advert, as it seeks to hire a mentor for a one-year-old.
Many of submissions have since been submitted since the anonymous family advertised their call for the £180k-a-year tutor, who must be "someone very special".
Over the last few weeks, the advert has received attention throughout the media, with numerous questioning why?
Progressive Approach
A tutoring expert, CEO and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is supporting the family in their hunt, stated that in spite of early doubt, he found the concept "forward-looking", and "progressive".
When he consulted the family, he said they understood the unconventional nature of their requirement, and how young their son is.
But, they explained that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had held off until their elder sibling was five, and by that stage "cultural conditioning had by then set in".
What exactly did the family refer to by "cultural leaning"?
It's "everything", the expert responded. "How you eat, the manner you speak".
He explained the elder child had absorbed "extremely delicate, body language" from the family, and had assumed their cultural norms. The family told Adam they did not want history to repeat itself with their younger child.
The intention: To engage 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 learning at the start here is rather acquired indirectly," explained Adam.
It's by means of this subtle influence that the family are expecting the child will acquire the English characteristics they aim to cultivate.
Adam explained the tutor had to be somebody who went to "the right kinds of schools – the same kinds of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The educator simply needs to be the right kind of person, they'll be performing things they aren't even aware they're doing, effortlessly," he said.
Cost Not Relevant
The family told Adam the chosen tutor should ideally also have knowledge of or passion in equestrian activities, winter sports, artistic pursuits and musical activities so as to influence the child in a broad spectrum of interests.
Furthermore though, he explained the family hoped the tutor to sign up the child on a selection of lessons 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, helping their son become a "English gentleman" will lead to success and create opportunities.
"Considering the rights and wrongs of that, because it's definitely a social class indicator," he comments.
However, despite all this guidance in "UK identity", would the child adopt what is termed cultural bias from the international family he lives with regardless?
"Absolutely", said he. "The parents know this may not work, but they've merely embraced the view of, 'let's give it a go and we should start as early as we can', because the cost of it is irrelevant," he explained.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
Several in the tutoring industry who share those concerns.
Another CEO, head and founder of an educational organization, who supplies personal educators, commented that "the journey of embracing two identities, or indeed, discovering oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not manufactured."
Peter explained that he had emigrated from the Far East to the UK at the age of seven, and had been raised understanding and embodying dual heritages. He continued to learn at Cambridge University.
"The notion that one individual can function as a embodiment of UK identity, someone who can somehow impart the attributes of a UK sophisticate onto a infant child, appears optimistic and unfeasible," he wrote.
"Based on my background, engaging a distinctly UK tutor from babyhood will does not instantly achieve the result they hope for.
"I did not have such a tutor, and nevertheless I have been privileged enough to enjoy several of the experiences they aspire for their son."
He continued: "The reality is, cultural identity should not be dictated from the outside; it must be embraced, and it must originate internally."
Buying Britishness
Certainly, UK identity is something the expert believes can be taught – and sold.
"I believe the situation that the international society regards us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
