"Parents based in the northern part of London seeks an exceptional and experienced instructor to assist their youngest child on his early path to becoming an English gentleman."
Upon seeing this post, you might readily skip the phrase "first-steps" as simple an expression.
However, it could be the most important aspect of this unusual position posting, as it aims to recruit a teacher for a 12-month-old.
Hundreds of applications have already been sent in since the unidentified family posted their search for the highly paid tutor, who needs to be "a uniquely qualified person".
During the past few weeks, the post has gained attention throughout the press, with numerous questioning why?
Forward-Thinking Method
Adam Caller, CEO and founder of Tutors International, which is supporting the family in their quest, said that in spite of early doubt, he found the plan "visionary", and "progressive".
When he spoke with the family, he said they appreciated the atypical nature of their demand, and how immature their son is.
But, they stated that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had waited until their firstborn was five, and by that point "cultural bias had already taken hold".
What precisely did the family mean by "cultural bias"?
It's "comprehensive", Adam replied. "The manner you eat, the way you speak".
He said the elder child had adopted "really subtle, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had taken on their cultural norms. The family explained to him they wished to avoid history to happen again with their younger child.
The strategy: To hire a UK tutor, who needs to speak with standard English accent, to influence the baby right from the beginning.
Natural Absorption
"A great deal of the development at the outset here is kind of absorbed naturally," explained the CEO.
It's by means of this subtle influence that the family are aiming the child will adopt the UK customs they aim to cultivate.
He said the tutor needed to be an individual who studied at "prestigious academies – comparable categories of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The instructor simply needs to be the suitable individual, they'll be performing things they may not realize they're doing, simply by nature," he said.
Cost Not Relevant
The family informed him the chosen tutor should ideally also have understanding of or interest in riding, skiing, artistic pursuits and instrumental training so as to shape the child in a wide range of interests.
More than that though, he stated the family wanted the tutor to sign up the child on a selection of classes so the child would be "equestrian training and picking up an tool by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's minds, assisting their son develop into a "English gentleman" will lead to success and open doors.
"Considering the rights and wrongs of that, because it's undoubtedly a status symbol," he notes.
However, in spite of all this tutelage in "Britishness", would the child pick up so-called cultural influence from the international family he resides with anyway?
"Yes", answered he. "The family realize this might not succeed, but they've simply adopted the attitude of, 'let's give it a go and let's go as quickly as we can', because the expense of it is irrelevant," he explained.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
There are some in the education sector who have these doubts.
Another CEO, chief executive of a tutoring service, who supplies personal educators, commented that "the journey of adopting dual cultures, or actually, becoming oneself, is something that must be lived into, not designed."
He explained that he had emigrated from Asia to the Britain at the age of seven, and had been raised experiencing and practicing dual heritages. He progressed to study at the University of Cambridge.
"The notion that one individual can serve as a embodiment of Britishness, a person who can in some way transfer the characteristics of a English gentleman upon a one-year-old child, seems to me idealistic and unrealistic," he wrote.
"Based on my background, having a typically English tutor from babyhood will does not automatically achieve the goal they desire.
"I did not have such a figure, and yet I have been fortunate enough to experience several of the situations they hope for their son."
He stated: "The truth is, personal identity should not be imposed from the external environment; it must be embraced, and it must originate internally."
Acquiring Englishness
Of course, English culture is something Adam thinks can be taught – and marketed.
"I believe the situation that the global community views us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
