"A household based in the northern part of London seeks an remarkable and skilled educator to assist their smallest child on his early path to growing into an British gentleman."
Upon seeing this advertisement, you might naturally miss the term "first-steps" as simple a turn of phrase.
However, it may be the most significant aspect of this unusual job advert, as it attempts to recruit a tutor for a infant.
Hundreds of applications have now been received since the unidentified family advertised their call for the £180,000 per year tutor, who must be "someone very special".
Over the last few weeks, the listing has gained attention throughout the media, with several questioning why?
Forward-Thinking Method
The CEO, head and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is assisting the family in their quest, explained that despite first doubt, he viewed the plan "visionary", and "advanced".
When he met the family, he mentioned they understood the unusual aspect of their demand, and how early in age their son is.
But, they explained that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to get a tutor, as they had postponed until their elder sibling was five, and by that point "cultural bias had by then set in".
What precisely does the family indicate by "cultural leaning"?
It's "comprehensive", he answered. "How you eat, the way you speak".
He said the firstborn had adopted "very nuanced, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had assumed their cultural norms. The family informed the consultant they did not want this pattern to happen again with their new baby.
The strategy: To hire a UK tutor, who needs to speak with Received Pronunciation, to shape the baby right from the beginning.
Osmotic Learning
"A lot of the education at the beginning here is kind of absorbed naturally," explained the expert.
It's through this natural absorption that the family are expecting the child will acquire the British traits they wish to cultivate.
Adam explained the tutor needed to be someone who attended "the appropriate educational institutions – the same kinds of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The educator just has to be the right kind of person, they'll be carrying out things they aren't even aware they're doing, simply by nature," he added.
Expense Not a Factor
The family told Adam the selected educator should ideally also have knowledge of or passion in riding, winter sports, creative fields and instrumental training so as to inspire the child in a broad spectrum of interests.
Furthermore though, he explained the family wanted the tutor to sign up the child on a selection of courses so the child would be "pony-riding and learning an tool by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's minds, guiding their son grow into a "UK sophisticate" will result in achievement and create opportunities.
"Taking into account the pros and cons of that, because it's definitely a social class indicator," he notes.
Yet, notwithstanding all this instruction in "Britishness", might the child absorb so-called cultural bias from the international family he resides with regardless?
"Yes", said Adam. "The family understand this may not work, but they've merely embraced the attitude of, 'why not attempt it and we'll proceed as early as we can', because the price of it is irrelevant," he explained.
Impractical
Several in the tutoring industry who express those doubts.
An education leader, chief executive of a tutoring service, who provides personal educators, wrote that "the journey of becoming bicultural, or actually, discovering oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not designed."
The expert noted that he had moved from Asia to the United Kingdom at the time of seven, and had been brought up knowing and practicing both cultures. He went on to study at Cambridge University.
"The concept that a single person can function as a living vessel of English culture, someone who can in some way transplant the qualities of a British gentleman upon a 12-month-old child, strikes me as optimistic and impractical," he stated.
"From my perspective, having a distinctly UK tutor from babyhood will will not automatically achieve the outcome they desire.
"I wasn't provided with such a figure, and yet I have been privileged enough to enjoy numerous of the opportunities they desire for their son."
He continued: "The reality is, self-identity should not be imposed from the external environment; it must be embraced, and it must originate internally."
Purchasing UK Culture
Certainly, English culture is something the expert believes can be educated – and marketed.
"I think the situation that the world views us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
