"A household located in north London is looking for an remarkable and skilled instructor to assist their most junior child on his early path to becoming an English gentleman."
Upon seeing this post, you might easily overlook the wording "first-steps" as mere figurative language.
But, it could be the most significant part of this unique employment listing, as it aims to find a mentor for a one-year-old.
Many of responses have already been submitted since the unidentified family published their request for the highly paid tutor, who must be "someone very special".
During the past few weeks, the advert has gained attention across the media, with numerous asking why?
Progressive Approach
A tutoring expert, chief executive of Tutors International, which is assisting the family in their search, stated that despite initial scepticism, he considered the concept "forward-looking", and "advanced".
When he consulted the family, he noted they appreciated the unusual 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 postponed until their elder sibling was five, and by that point "cultural bias had already become established".
But what does the family refer to by "cultural leaning"?
It's "all-encompassing", he responded. "The way you eat, how you speak".
He explained the firstborn had absorbed "extremely delicate, unspoken signals" from the family, and had assumed their cultural ways. The family explained to Adam they wished to avoid the same situation to happen again with their younger child.
The plan: To bring in a English tutor, who needs to speak with RP, to shape the baby right from the beginning.
Subtle Influence
"A great deal of the education at the beginning here is kind of acquired indirectly," said Adam.
It's by means of this natural absorption that the family are expecting the child will adopt the English characteristics they want to impart.
Adam said the tutor must be an individual who studied at "prestigious academies – the same kinds of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The instructor simply needs to be the suitable individual, they'll be carrying out things they don't even know they're doing, just naturally," he said.
Money No Object
The family informed the expert the selected educator should ideally also have knowledge of or enthusiasm in equestrian activities, alpine skiing, artistic pursuits and musical activities so as to influence the child in a wide range of hobbies.
Additionally though, he explained the family wanted the tutor to sign up the child on a selection of classes so the child would be "pony-riding and learning an instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's view, guiding their son grow into a "UK sophisticate" will lead to success and open doors.
"Taking into account the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's definitely a status symbol," he comments.
Yet, despite all this guidance in "Britishness", would the child adopt what is termed cultural influence from the multicultural family he lives with in any case?
"Certainly", replied the CEO. "The parents understand this may not work, but they've merely embraced the perspective of, 'we should try and we should start as early as we can', because the cost of it is irrelevant," he explained.
Overly Optimistic
A number of in the education sector who have those reservations.
Peter Cui, head and founder of a tutoring service, who provides individual instructors, commented that "the development of embracing two identities, or actually, becoming oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not designed."
Peter explained that he had emigrated from Asia to the UK at the age of seven, and had been raised experiencing and practicing two backgrounds. He progressed to be educated at a prestigious UK institution.
"The notion that one individual can act as a representation of UK identity, an individual who can somehow impart the characteristics of a English gentleman to a 12-month-old child, strikes me as naive and impractical," he wrote.
"Based on my background, engaging a quintessentially English tutor from babyhood will will not automatically produce the outcome they want.
"I never had such a tutor, and yet I have been privileged enough to experience numerous of the opportunities they hope for their son."
He stated: "The truth is, self-identity cannot be dictated from the outside; it must be chosen, and it must come from within."
Acquiring Englishness
Certainly, UK identity is something the expert thinks can be instructed – and sold.
"I think the situation that the global community regards us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
