"A household based in the northern part of London wants to find an extraordinary and skilled tutor to support their smallest child on his initial journey to growing into an British gentleman."
When reading this listing, you might readily overlook the phrase "first-steps" as simple a turn of phrase.
However, it could be the crucial part of this unique job advert, as it seeks to hire a mentor for a 12-month-old.
Many of submissions have already been sent in since the unidentified family published their request for the highly paid tutor, who has to be "an exceptional individual".
In recent few weeks, the post has gained notice throughout the press, with many questioning why?
Forward-Thinking Method
Adam Caller, head and founder of an education consultancy, which is assisting the family in their hunt, stated that in spite of initial skepticism, he considered the idea "visionary", and "innovative".
When he consulted the family, he said they appreciated the atypical nature of their request, and how immature their son is.
But, they clarified that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to get a tutor, as they had held off until their older child was five, and by that stage "cultural bias had by then become established".
But what did the family mean by "cultural bias"?
It's "all-encompassing", Adam replied. "How you eat, the manner you speak".
He explained the firstborn had adopted "very nuanced, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had assumed their cultural ways. The family told him they hoped to prevent history to repeat itself with their younger child.
The intention: To bring in a UK tutor, who needs to speak with RP, to influence the baby right from the beginning.
Subtle Influence
"A lot of the learning at the outset here is rather osmotic," said the expert.
It's via this osmosis that the family are expecting the child will adopt the British traits they aim to instil.
He noted the tutor must be somebody who went to "prestigious academies – similar types of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The tutor simply needs to be the suitable individual, they'll be doing things they aren't even aware they're doing, simply by nature," he said.
Cost Not Relevant
The family informed Adam the successful candidate should ideally also have familiarity of or enthusiasm in equestrian activities, winter sports, creative fields and musical activities so as to shape the child in a broad spectrum of hobbies.
More than that though, he explained the family hoped the tutor to enrol the child on a variety of courses so the child would be "horseback riding and starting an musical instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's perspective, helping their son become a "British gentleman" will lead to success and open doors.
"For all the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's certainly a class statement," he comments.
But, notwithstanding all this tutelage in "English culture", would the child absorb so-called cultural influence from the multicultural family he lives with anyway?
"Yes", said he. "They realize this could fail, but they've merely embraced the view of, 'let's give it a go and let's go as early as we can', because the price of it is not a concern," he said.
Impractical
Several in the private teaching field who express similar concerns.
Peter Cui, chief executive of an educational organization, who supplies private tutors, commented that "the journey of becoming bicultural, or indeed, forming one's identity, is something that must be experienced personally, not manufactured."
Peter wrote that he had emigrated from China to the UK at the time of 7 years old, and had been raised experiencing and practicing both cultures. He continued to study at the University of Cambridge.
"The idea that a single person can act as a living vessel of English culture, someone who can possibly transplant the characteristics of a UK sophisticate to a 12-month-old child, seems to me optimistic and impractical," he stated.
"From my perspective, employing a distinctly UK tutor from early childhood will will not necessarily achieve the outcome they desire.
"I did not have such a figure, and yet I have been lucky enough to experience several of the situations they aspire for their son."
He added: "The reality is, cultural identity cannot be dictated from the outside influences; it must be selected, and it must come from within."
Acquiring Englishness
Naturally, UK identity is something Adam thinks can be instructed – and marketed.
"In my view the fact that the world regards us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
