"A family residing in North London is looking for an extraordinary and qualified instructor to guide their youngest child on his early path to growing into an English gentleman."
When reading this post, you might easily skip the term "first-steps" as mere an expression.
But, it could be the most significant element of this distinctive job advert, as it aims to find a tutor for a 12-month-old.
Hundreds of responses have since been submitted since the anonymous family posted their call for the £180,000 per year tutor, who has to be "someone very special".
During the past few weeks, the listing has received attention throughout the news, with many questioning why?
Forward-Thinking Method
A tutoring expert, chief executive of a global tutoring firm, which is assisting the family in their hunt, said that notwithstanding first scepticism, he viewed the plan "visionary", and "progressive".
When he met the family, he mentioned they appreciated the unconventional aspect of their demand, and how immature their son is.
Nevertheless, they clarified that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had held off until their elder sibling was five, and by that point "cultural bias had by then taken hold".
What precisely does the family mean by "cultural leaning"?
It's "everything", the expert replied. "The way you eat, the manner you speak".
He said the firstborn had adopted "very nuanced, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had taken on their cultural habits. The family told Adam they hoped to prevent the same situation to recur with their new baby.
The intention: To bring in a British tutor, who needs to speak with standard English accent, to influence the baby right from the beginning.
Natural Absorption
"A lot of the learning at the beginning here is rather acquired indirectly," explained the expert.
It's via this subtle influence that the family are aiming the child will adopt the English characteristics they wish to instil.
He noted the tutor had to be an individual who went to "the right kinds of schools – similar types of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The educator just has to be the right kind of person, they'll be performing things they aren't even aware they're doing, simply by nature," he added.
Money No Object
The family informed the expert the selected educator should ideally also have knowledge of or enthusiasm in riding, alpine skiing, creative fields and music so as to shape the child in a wide range of interests.
Additionally though, he stated the family desired the tutor to register the child on a range 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, assisting their son grow into a "English gentleman" will result in success and provide access.
"Taking into account the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's definitely a social class indicator," he comments.
Yet, notwithstanding all this tutelage in "Britishness", might the child adopt alleged cultural influence from the globally influenced family he lives with regardless?
"Yes", replied Adam. "They understand this may not work, but they've simply adopted the attitude of, 'we should try and we should start as soon as we can', because the cost of it is not a concern," he explained.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
There are some in the private teaching field who share those doubts.
Peter Cui, chief executive of Blue Education, who supplies personal educators, wrote that "the process of adopting dual cultures, or in fact, forming one's identity, is something that must be grown into, not manufactured."
He noted that he had moved from China to the United Kingdom at the age of seven, and had been educated experiencing and embodying two backgrounds. He progressed to be educated at Cambridge University.
"The notion that a single person can act as a living vessel of Britishness, someone who can somehow transfer the attributes of a British gentleman upon a one-year-old child, seems to me naive and impractical," he stated.
"In my experience, having a typically UK tutor from babyhood will not necessarily produce the result they hope for.
"I did not have such a figure, and nevertheless I have been privileged enough to enjoy several of the situations they aspire for their son."
He stated: "The fact is, cultural identity should not be imposed from the outside; it must be chosen, and it must originate internally."
Buying Britishness
Certainly, Britishness is something the expert thinks can be instructed – and marketed.
"I believe the reality that the global community holds us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
