"Parents located in North London wants to find an extraordinary and skilled instructor to support their smallest child on his early path to turning into an English gentleman."
Upon seeing this post, you might easily miss the phrase "first-steps" as mere figurative language.
Yet, it may be the most significant element of this distinctive job advert, as it attempts to recruit a teacher for a 12-month-old.
Hundreds of applications have now been received since the unidentified family advertised their search for the £180k-a-year tutor, who has to be "an exceptional individual".
Over the last few weeks, the advert has attracted notice across the media, with several wondering why?
Innovative Idea
Adam Caller, head and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is assisting the family in their hunt, stated that despite initial scepticism, he found the plan "far sighted", and "innovative".
When he consulted the family, he said they appreciated the unconventional nature of their requirement, and how immature their son is.
But, they clarified that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had held off until their elder sibling was five, and by that point "cultural conditioning had by then become established".
But what does the family mean by "cultural leaning"?
It's "everything", Adam replied. "How you eat, the manner you speak".
He explained the older sibling had adopted "extremely delicate, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had adopted their cultural ways. The family told the consultant they hoped to prevent the same situation to repeat itself with their younger child.
The strategy: To bring in a UK tutor, who must speak with standard English accent, to guide the baby from the very start.
Osmotic Learning
"Much of the education at the outset here is somewhat osmotic," said Adam.
It's through this osmosis that the family are hoping the child will adopt the British traits they want to impart.
Adam said the tutor needed to be an individual who studied at "the appropriate educational institutions – similar types of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The instructor simply needs to be the suitable individual, they'll be performing things they don't even know they're doing, simply by nature," he commented.
Cost Not Relevant
The family explained to Adam the chosen tutor should preferably also have understanding of or interest in riding, skiing, creative fields and musical activities so as to inspire the child in a wide range of passions.
More than that though, he explained the family hoped the tutor to enrol the child on a range of lessons so the child would be "equestrian training and picking up an tool by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's view, guiding their son develop into a "British gentleman" will result in accomplishment and open doors.
"For all the pros and cons of that, because it's undoubtedly a social class indicator," he notes.
However, despite all this instruction in "Britishness", would the child adopt so-called cultural leaning from the multicultural family he lives with in any case?
"Absolutely", said he. "They realize this may not work, but they've simply adopted the view of, 'we should try and we should start as soon as we can', because the price of it is irrelevant," he stated.
Overly Optimistic
There are some in the education sector who express these reservations.
An education leader, chief executive of an educational organization, who provides personal educators, stated that "the journey of embracing two identities, or indeed, becoming oneself, is something that must be lived into, not manufactured."
The expert wrote that he had emigrated from Asia to the UK at the time of 7 years old, and had been educated experiencing and living two backgrounds. He continued to learn at Cambridge University.
"The notion that an individual can serve as a embodiment of Britishness, a person who can possibly transplant the qualities of a UK sophisticate upon a 12-month-old child, seems to me idealistic and impractical," he stated.
"In my experience, employing a typically English tutor from early childhood will will not automatically create the goal they hope for.
"I never had such a figure, and however I have been lucky enough to experience numerous of the opportunities they hope for their son."
He added: "The reality is, cultural identity can not be forced from the outside influences; it must be chosen, and it must originate internally."
Buying Britishness
Of course, UK identity is something Adam hopes can be educated – and commercialized.
"In my view the fact that the world views us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
