"A family residing in North London seeks an extraordinary and qualified instructor to support their smallest child on his early path to becoming an British gentleman."
Upon seeing this listing, you might easily miss the wording "first-steps" as simple figurative language.
Yet, it might be the most significant aspect of this unusual employment listing, as it attempts to find a tutor for a one-year-old.
Hundreds of submissions have already been sent in since the anonymous family advertised their search for the £180k-a-year tutor, who has to be "someone very special".
During the past few weeks, the post has received interest throughout the news, with many questioning why?
Progressive Approach
Adam Caller, head and founder of Tutors International, which is supporting the family in their search, said that in spite of early skepticism, he considered the plan "forward-looking", and "innovative".
When he met the family, he said they appreciated the unusual aspect of their requirement, and how young their son is.
However, they stated that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to get a tutor, as they had waited until their elder sibling was five, and by that point "cultural bias had by then become established".
What exactly does the family indicate by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "comprehensive", he replied. "The manner you eat, the manner you speak".
He said the older sibling had adopted "really subtle, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had assumed their cultural habits. The family explained to Adam they did not want this pattern to repeat itself with their new baby.
The strategy: To engage a British tutor, who should speak with standard English accent, to guide the baby from the very start.
Subtle Influence
"A lot of the development at the start here is kind of osmotic," said the expert.
It's by means of this natural absorption that the family are hoping the child will pick up the British traits they aim to cultivate.
Adam explained the tutor needed to be someone who went to "the appropriate educational institutions – the same kinds 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 don't even know they're doing, just naturally," he said.
Expense Not a Factor
The family informed Adam the selected educator should ideally also have knowledge of or enthusiasm in riding, winter sports, the arts and musical activities so as to shape the child in a diverse set of interests.
Additionally though, he stated the family hoped the tutor to enrol the child on a range of lessons so the child would be "horseback riding and picking up an musical instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's minds, helping their son develop into a "UK sophisticate" will result in achievement and create opportunities.
"Considering the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's certainly a status symbol," he comments.
Yet, notwithstanding all this tutelage in "English culture", could the child absorb alleged cultural bias from the globally influenced family he lives with anyway?
"Yes", answered he. "The family realize this might not succeed, but they've just taken the view of, 'why not attempt it and we should start as soon as we can', because the expense of it is irrelevant," he said.
Impractical
A number of in the private teaching field who express similar doubts.
Another CEO, head and founder of an educational organization, who supplies personal educators, wrote that "the journey of embracing two identities, or actually, discovering oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not designed."
The expert wrote that he had moved from the Far East to the United Kingdom at the period of 7 years old, and had been brought up understanding and practicing dual heritages. He continued to study at the University of Cambridge.
"The notion that one individual can act as a living vessel of English culture, someone who can somehow transfer the qualities of a British gentleman to a 12-month-old child, seems to me naive and impractical," he stated.
"In my experience, engaging a typically English tutor from early childhood will will not instantly create the outcome they desire.
"I did not have such a tutor, and however I have been lucky enough to enjoy many of the experiences they aspire for their son."
He added: "The reality is, personal identity should not be dictated from the external environment; it must be embraced, and it must come from within."
Acquiring Englishness
Certainly, UK identity is something Adam believes can be taught – and marketed.
"I believe the situation that the world views us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
