"A household based in the northern part of London is looking for an exceptional and skilled tutor to guide their most junior child on his initial journey to growing into an English gentleman."
When reading this listing, you might easily overlook the wording "first-steps" as just a turn of phrase.
However, it might be the crucial part of this distinctive job advert, as it aims to recruit a teacher for a 12-month-old.
Hundreds of submissions have since been sent in since the unnamed family posted their request for the £180k-a-year tutor, who has to be "someone very special".
During the past few weeks, the post has gained interest across the media, with numerous questioning why?
Innovative Idea
The CEO, CEO and founder of an education consultancy, which is helping the family in their quest, said that notwithstanding early scepticism, he viewed the concept "forward-looking", and "advanced".
When he consulted the family, he noted they recognized the unusual character of their request, and how immature their son is.
Nevertheless, they stated that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had held off until their older child was five, and by that point "cultural conditioning had already taken hold".
What exactly did the family refer to by "cultural bias"?
It's "all-encompassing", he answered. "How you eat, how you speak".
He said the older sibling had adopted "really subtle, body language" from the family, and had taken on their cultural ways. The family explained to him they wished to avoid the same situation to recur with their younger child.
The strategy: To bring in a British tutor, who should speak with standard English accent, to shape the baby from the very start.
Subtle Influence
"Much of the learning at the outset here is rather absorbed naturally," said the CEO.
It's through this natural absorption that the family are aiming the child will acquire the UK customs they aim to instil.
Adam explained the tutor had to be somebody who studied at "prestigious academies – similar types of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The tutor just has to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be doing things they aren't even aware they're doing, just naturally," he commented.
Money No Object
The family explained to the expert the successful candidate should preferably also have familiarity of or enthusiasm in horse riding, winter sports, creative fields and music so as to influence the child in a wide range of hobbies.
Additionally though, he said the family desired the tutor to enrol the child on a variety of courses so the child would be "pony-riding and learning an instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's minds, guiding their son grow into a "British gentleman" will result in success and provide access.
"Taking into account the pros and cons of that, because it's undoubtedly a class statement," he comments.
Yet, despite all this guidance in "Britishness", could the child absorb what is termed cultural leaning from the international family he lives with in any case?
"Absolutely", said the CEO. "They realize this could fail, but they've just taken the view of, 'let's give it a go and we should start as soon as we can', because the cost of it is irrelevant," he said.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
There are some in the tutoring industry who have these reservations.
An education leader, CEO and founder of an educational organization, who provides individual instructors, wrote that "the journey of embracing two identities, or in fact, becoming oneself, is something that must be grown into, not engineered."
He noted that he had moved from the Far East to the Britain at the period of 7 years old, and had been brought up knowing and embodying dual heritages. He progressed to learn at a prestigious UK institution.
"The concept that one individual can function as a representation of UK identity, someone who can in some way impart the qualities of a British gentleman to a one-year-old child, seems to me naive and impractical," he wrote.
"Based on my background, employing a typically English tutor from early childhood will not instantly achieve the result they desire.
"I wasn't provided with such a tutor, and however I have been lucky enough to live several of the opportunities they hope for their son."
He added: "The reality is, cultural identity cannot be imposed from the outside; it must be selected, and it must be internally driven."
Purchasing UK Culture
Naturally, Britishness is something the CEO thinks can be taught – and marketed.
"I believe the situation that the international society regards us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
