"A household based in north London wants to find an extraordinary and experienced instructor to support their smallest child on his initial journey to becoming an British gentleman."
Looking at this post, you might naturally skip the phrase "first-steps" as mere a turn of phrase.
Yet, it could be the most important part of this unusual employment listing, as it seeks to recruit a mentor for a infant.
Numerous of responses have since been submitted since the unnamed family posted their search for the £180k-a-year tutor, who has to be "someone very special".
Over the last few weeks, the post has attracted interest throughout the news, with numerous questioning why?
Innovative Idea
Adam Caller, CEO and founder of an education consultancy, which is assisting the family in their hunt, said that in spite of initial doubt, he considered the idea "forward-looking", and "advanced".
When he consulted the family, he noted they appreciated the atypical nature of their request, and how immature their son is.
Nevertheless, they stated that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had postponed until their elder sibling was five, and by that stage "cultural influence had already become established".
What precisely does the family refer to by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "comprehensive", Adam replied. "The manner you eat, the way you speak".
He stated the elder child had adopted "extremely delicate, unspoken signals" from the family, and had taken on their cultural norms. The family informed him they hoped to prevent the same situation to happen again with their new baby.
The intention: To engage a UK tutor, who needs to speak with Received Pronunciation, to influence the baby right from the beginning.
Natural Absorption
"Much of the education at the beginning here is somewhat acquired indirectly," stated the expert.
It's through this natural absorption that the family are hoping the child will adopt the British traits they want to cultivate.
Adam noted the tutor needed to be someone who attended "the right kinds of schools – similar types of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The instructor must be the appropriate candidate, they'll be carrying out things they aren't even aware they're doing, simply by nature," he commented.
Cost Not Relevant
The family explained to him the successful candidate should preferably also have understanding of or enthusiasm in equestrian activities, skiing, creative fields and musical activities so as to inspire the child in a wide range of hobbies.
Additionally though, he stated the family wanted the tutor to enrol the child on a selection of lessons so the child would be "equestrian training and learning an musical instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's minds, guiding their son develop into a "UK sophisticate" will lead to accomplishment and provide access.
"For all the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's definitely a class statement," he notes.
But, in spite of all this guidance in "Britishness", could the child adopt alleged cultural influence from the multicultural family he resides with anyway?
"Yes", replied Adam. "They know this may not work, but they've merely embraced the view of, 'we should try and we should start as soon as we can', because the price of it is not relevant," he said.
Impractical
Several in the tutoring industry who have these doubts.
An education leader, head and founder of a tutoring service, who supplies personal educators, wrote that "the journey of embracing two identities, or actually, forming one's identity, is something that must be experienced personally, not engineered."
The expert explained that he had relocated from the Far East to the UK at the age of childhood, and had been raised knowing and embodying two backgrounds. He progressed to learn at a prestigious UK institution.
"The idea that one individual can act as a representation of Britishness, a person who can in some way transfer the qualities of a British gentleman onto a infant child, strikes me as naive and impractical," he commented.
"Based on my background, employing a quintessentially UK tutor from early childhood will does not necessarily create the result they want.
"I never had that kind of mentor, and nevertheless I have been lucky enough to live many of the opportunities they hope for their son."
He added: "The fact is, cultural identity cannot be imposed from the outside influences; it must be embraced, and it must come from within."
Buying Britishness
Of course, UK identity is something the expert believes can be instructed – and sold.
"I believe the fact that the global community views us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
