"A family located in the northern part of London is looking for an extraordinary and skilled instructor to support their youngest child on his early path to turning into an English gentleman."
Looking at this listing, you might readily miss the wording "first-steps" as mere figurative language.
But, it may be the most significant part of this unusual job advert, as it seeks to find a tutor for a 12-month-old.
Hundreds of submissions have already been submitted since the unnamed family advertised their call for the highly paid tutor, who needs to be "someone very special".
During the past few weeks, the listing has gained attention in the media, with numerous questioning why?
Progressive Approach
Adam Caller, chief executive of a global tutoring firm, which is helping the family in their hunt, stated that despite early scepticism, he found the plan "visionary", and "advanced".
When he met the family, he noted they recognized the unusual aspect of their demand, and how early in age their son is.
Nevertheless, they explained that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to get a tutor, as they had waited until their firstborn was five, and by that age "cultural bias had by then taken hold".
But what did the family indicate by "cultural leaning"?
It's "comprehensive", the expert replied. "The manner you eat, the way you speak".
He stated the elder child had absorbed "really subtle, body language" from the family, and had taken on their cultural norms. The family informed him they did not want history to recur with their new baby.
The strategy: To engage a English tutor, who must speak with RP, to shape the baby right from the beginning.
Subtle Influence
"A lot of the education at the start here is kind of acquired indirectly," said the expert.
It's by means of this osmosis that the family are hoping the child will adopt the UK customs they want to cultivate.
Adam noted the tutor had to be someone who went to "prestigious academies – similar types of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The instructor must be the right kind of person, they'll be doing things they aren't even aware they're doing, simply by nature," he added.
Expense Not a Factor
The family told Adam the successful candidate should ideally also have understanding of or interest in equestrian activities, winter sports, creative fields and instrumental training so as to shape the child in a wide range of interests.
Furthermore though, he said the family desired the tutor to enrol the child on a range of courses so the child would be "horseback riding and starting an tool by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's minds, assisting their son develop into a "UK sophisticate" will lead to success and create opportunities.
"Taking into account the rights and wrongs of that, because it's undoubtedly a status symbol," he comments.
However, notwithstanding all this tutelage in "English culture", would the child pick up alleged cultural bias from the globally influenced family he is raised by regardless?
"Certainly", said he. "The parents realize this may not work, but they've merely embraced the view of, 'let's give it a go and we should start as soon as we can', because the expense of it is not a concern," he stated.
Overly Optimistic
Several in the private teaching field who share these reservations.
Another CEO, chief executive of a tutoring service, who supplies individual instructors, stated that "the journey of becoming bicultural, or indeed, forming one's identity, is something that must be lived into, not engineered."
He explained that he had moved from China to the United Kingdom at the time of childhood, and had been brought up knowing and practicing dual heritages. He went on to study at the University of Cambridge.
"The concept that one individual can act as a embodiment of English culture, a person who can in some way impart the characteristics of a English gentleman to a 12-month-old child, seems to me optimistic and impractical," he wrote.
"From my perspective, engaging a quintessentially UK tutor from babyhood will will not instantly create the result they hope for.
"I wasn't provided with such a tutor, and yet I have been lucky enough to enjoy many of the situations they hope for their son."
He continued: "The fact is, cultural identity can not be forced from the outside influences; it must be chosen, and it must be internally driven."
Buying Britishness
Naturally, English culture is something the CEO believes can be educated – and marketed.
"In my view the reality that the global community holds us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
