"A household residing in North London wants to find an remarkable and skilled educator to support their youngest child on his initial journey to turning into an British gentleman."
Looking at this listing, you might easily overlook the term "first-steps" as just a turn of phrase.
Yet, it may be the most significant aspect of this unusual job advert, as it seeks to hire a mentor for a infant.
Hundreds of applications have since been submitted since the anonymous family posted their call for the £180k-a-year tutor, who has to be "a uniquely qualified person".
During the past few weeks, the listing has received interest throughout the news, with several questioning why?
Innovative Idea
A tutoring expert, CEO and founder of Tutors International, which is helping the family in their quest, explained that in spite of first scepticism, he considered the concept "forward-looking", and "innovative".
When he met the family, he noted they recognized the atypical aspect of their requirement, and how immature their son is.
Nevertheless, they explained that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had postponed until their elder sibling was five, and by that age "cultural bias had already become established".
What exactly did the family indicate by "cultural bias"?
It's "comprehensive", Adam answered. "How you eat, the way you speak".
He stated the older sibling had picked up "really subtle, body language" from the family, and had taken on their cultural ways. The family explained to Adam they hoped to prevent history to repeat itself with their younger child.
The strategy: To hire a UK tutor, who must speak with RP, to shape the baby from the very start.
Subtle Influence
"Much of the education at the start here is kind of absorbed naturally," stated the CEO.
It's via this subtle influence that the family are hoping the child will acquire the English characteristics they aim to impart.
He noted the tutor must be somebody who went to "the appropriate educational institutions – the same kinds of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The educator simply needs to be the suitable individual, they'll be carrying out things they don't even know they're doing, just naturally," he added.
Cost Not Relevant
The family informed him the successful candidate should ideally also have familiarity of or passion in riding, winter sports, the arts and musical activities so as to shape the child in a wide range of hobbies.
Furthermore though, he said the family hoped the tutor to sign up the child on a variety of courses so the child would be "pony-riding and learning an musical instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's view, assisting their son become a "English gentleman" will lead to accomplishment and open doors.
"Considering the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's certainly a class statement," he adds.
But, in spite of all this guidance in "UK identity", could the child absorb what is termed cultural influence from the globally influenced family he resides with regardless?
"Certainly", said Adam. "The parents understand this may not work, but they've just taken the perspective of, 'we should try and let's go as soon as we can', because the price of it is irrelevant," he explained.
Overly Optimistic
Several in the private teaching field who share similar concerns.
Another CEO, chief executive of a tutoring service, who supplies individual instructors, commented that "the development of adopting dual cultures, or indeed, forming one's identity, is something that must be experienced personally, not engineered."
The expert explained that he had moved from the Far East to the UK at the time of childhood, and had been brought up knowing and practicing two backgrounds. He continued to learn at a prestigious UK institution.
"The concept that one individual can serve as a embodiment of English culture, someone who can somehow transplant the attributes of a British gentleman to a 12-month-old child, strikes me as naive and unrealistic," he wrote.
"Based on my background, having a distinctly English tutor from early childhood will not automatically achieve the outcome they desire.
"I wasn't provided with such a figure, and however I have been fortunate enough to live many of the opportunities they hope for their son."
He continued: "The truth is, cultural identity can not be imposed from the outside influences; it must be embraced, and it must come from within."
Purchasing UK Culture
Naturally, English culture is something the expert hopes can be instructed – and commercialized.
"In my view the reality that the global community regards us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
