"Parents located in the northern part of London seeks an extraordinary and qualified educator to assist their youngest child on his early path to becoming an British gentleman."
Upon seeing this advertisement, you might naturally skip the wording "first-steps" as just a turn of phrase.
Yet, it might be the most important part of this distinctive job advert, as it aims to recruit a teacher for a one-year-old.
Hundreds of applications have now been received since the unnamed family posted their call for the £180,000 per year tutor, who must be "someone very special".
In recent few weeks, the listing has gained attention across the news, with many wondering why?
Progressive Approach
The CEO, chief executive of Tutors International, which is helping the family in their hunt, said that notwithstanding early skepticism, he found the concept "forward-looking", and "innovative".
When he spoke with the family, he mentioned they understood the unusual nature of their demand, and how early in age their son is.
However, they clarified that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had waited until their older child was five, and by that age "cultural bias had by then become established".
What precisely does the family refer to by "cultural leaning"?
It's "all-encompassing", Adam replied. "The manner you eat, the manner you speak".
He stated the older sibling had absorbed "very nuanced, unspoken signals" from the family, and had taken on their cultural habits. The family told him they did not want the same situation to repeat itself with their younger child.
The plan: To engage a English tutor, who must speak with RP, to shape the baby right from the beginning.
Natural Absorption
"Much of the education at the beginning here is somewhat absorbed naturally," said Adam.
It's through this osmosis that the family are hoping the child will pick up the UK customs they wish to instil.
He noted the tutor must be someone who attended "prestigious academies – the same kinds of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The tutor simply needs to be the suitable individual, they'll be performing things they may not realize they're doing, simply by nature," he commented.
Expense Not a Factor
The family informed him the chosen tutor should ideally also have knowledge of or passion in horse riding, alpine skiing, artistic pursuits and instrumental training so as to inspire the child in a diverse set of passions.
More than that though, he said the family wanted the tutor to enrol the child on a selection of lessons so the child would be "equestrian training and learning an instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's perspective, helping their son grow into a "English gentleman" will bring about achievement and create opportunities.
"Considering the rights and wrongs of that, because it's undoubtedly a social class indicator," he notes.
However, notwithstanding all this instruction in "Britishness", might the child absorb what is termed cultural influence from the multicultural family he resides with anyway?
"Yes", answered the CEO. "The family understand this could fail, but they've just taken the perspective of, 'why not attempt it and we should start as early as we can', because the cost of it is not relevant," he explained.
Overly Optimistic
There are some in the private teaching field who share these doubts.
Another CEO, CEO and founder of an educational organization, who supplies private tutors, commented that "the development of becoming bicultural, or in fact, becoming oneself, is something that must be grown into, not manufactured."
Peter explained that he had moved from China to the UK at the time of seven, and had been raised knowing and practicing both cultures. He continued to study at the University of Cambridge.
"The notion that one individual can function as a representation of UK identity, an individual who can possibly transplant the attributes of a British gentleman onto a 12-month-old child, strikes me as naive and unrealistic," he commented.
"From my perspective, employing a typically UK tutor from early childhood will does not automatically create the result they hope for.
"I never had such a tutor, and however I have been fortunate enough to experience several of the opportunities they hope for their son."
He continued: "The reality is, self-identity cannot be imposed from the outside influences; it must be embraced, and it must come from within."
Acquiring Englishness
Naturally, Britishness is something Adam believes can be taught – and marketed.
"In my view the reality that the international society regards us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
