"A family residing in north London seeks an extraordinary and qualified tutor to guide their most junior child on his initial journey to becoming an British gentleman."
Upon seeing this post, you might naturally overlook the phrase "first-steps" as mere a turn of phrase.
Yet, it could be the most important element of this unique position posting, as it aims to hire a mentor for a one-year-old.
Hundreds of submissions have now been sent in since the anonymous family advertised their search for the £180k-a-year tutor, who must be "someone very special".
Over the last few weeks, the advert has gained notice across the press, with several asking why?
Forward-Thinking Method
The CEO, head and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is helping the family in their search, said that despite early skepticism, he viewed the concept "forward-looking", and "innovative".
When he consulted the family, he noted they understood the unconventional nature of their demand, and how immature their son is.
But, 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 age "cultural bias had already taken hold".
But what does the family mean by "cultural bias"?
It's "comprehensive", Adam replied. "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 told the consultant they did not want this pattern to happen again with their new baby.
The strategy: To bring in a UK tutor, who must speak with RP, to influence the baby right from the beginning.
Osmotic Learning
"A great deal of the development at the beginning here is kind of absorbed naturally," stated the expert.
It's via this subtle influence that the family are aiming the child will acquire the British traits they aim to instil.
The consultant said the tutor needed to be someone who attended "prestigious academies – the same kinds of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The educator simply needs to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be carrying out things they aren't even aware they're doing, simply by nature," he said.
Expense Not a Factor
The family explained to the expert the successful candidate should ideally also have understanding of or interest in horse riding, winter sports, the arts and musical activities so as to shape the child in a diverse set of passions.
Furthermore though, he said the family hoped the tutor to register the child on a selection of lessons so the child would be "pony-riding and learning an tool by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's perspective, guiding their son develop into a "UK sophisticate" will result in accomplishment and provide access.
"For all the rights and wrongs of that, because it's definitely a class statement," he comments.
However, in spite of all this tutelage in "UK identity", would the child pick up alleged cultural bias from the multicultural family he is raised by in any case?
"Yes", answered the CEO. "They realize this may not work, but they've merely embraced the attitude of, 'we should try and let's go as early as we can', because the expense of it is not relevant," he explained.
Overly Optimistic
A number of in the private teaching field who share these doubts.
Peter Cui, CEO and founder of an educational organization, who provides personal educators, commented that "the development of becoming bicultural, or indeed, becoming oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not manufactured."
He noted that he had relocated from China to the UK at the age of 7 years old, and had been brought up knowing and embodying two backgrounds. He continued to be educated at a prestigious UK institution.
"The notion that one individual can act as a embodiment of English culture, someone who can possibly transplant the qualities of a English gentleman onto a one-year-old child, appears optimistic and unfeasible," he commented.
"Based on my background, engaging a typically UK tutor from early childhood will will not instantly achieve the result they hope for.
"I did not have that kind of mentor, and yet I have been privileged enough to live numerous of the situations they desire for their son."
He added: "The reality is, self-identity cannot be imposed from the external environment; it must be embraced, and it must be internally driven."
Buying Britishness
Certainly, UK identity is something Adam hopes can be taught – and commercialized.
"In my view the reality that the international society views us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
