"A household residing in the northern part of London seeks an remarkable and skilled tutor to guide their smallest child on his early path to becoming an English gentleman."
Upon seeing this post, you might easily skip the phrase "first-steps" as mere a turn of phrase.
However, it might be the most important element of this unusual position posting, as it attempts to recruit a teacher for a 12-month-old.
Hundreds of submissions have already been received since the unidentified family published their search for the highly paid tutor, who must be "someone very special".
Over the last few weeks, the listing has gained attention throughout the news, with several questioning why?
Innovative Idea
A tutoring expert, chief executive of Tutors International, which is assisting the family in their search, stated that in spite of early doubt, he considered the idea "visionary", and "innovative".
When he met the family, he said they appreciated the unconventional character of their demand, and how early in age their son is.
Nevertheless, they explained that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had waited until their elder sibling was five, and by that age "cultural conditioning had already become established".
But what did the family mean by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "everything", Adam responded. "How you eat, the manner you speak".
He said the older sibling had absorbed "really subtle, body language" from the family, and had assumed their cultural ways. The family explained to Adam they wished to avoid the same situation to recur with their new baby.
The strategy: To hire a UK tutor, who should speak with RP, to influence the baby from the very start.
Subtle Influence
"A lot of the learning at the beginning here is rather absorbed naturally," said Adam.
It's by means of this osmosis that the family are aiming the child will adopt the British traits they wish to instil.
He explained the tutor needed to be somebody who studied at "the right kinds of schools – similar types of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The educator simply needs to be the right kind of person, they'll be performing things they aren't even aware they're doing, simply by nature," he added.
Expense Not a Factor
The family told him the successful candidate should ideally also have understanding of or enthusiasm in riding, winter sports, creative fields and music so as to shape the child in a broad spectrum of passions.
Furthermore though, he stated the family hoped the tutor to register the child on a range of classes so the child would be "equestrian training and starting an instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's perspective, helping their son grow into a "UK sophisticate" will lead to accomplishment and open doors.
"Considering the rights and wrongs of that, because it's definitely a social class indicator," he comments.
But, in spite of all this tutelage in "English culture", would the child absorb what is termed cultural leaning from the globally influenced family he lives with in any case?
"Yes", answered the CEO. "The parents understand this may not work, but they've just taken the view of, 'we should try and we should start as soon as we can', because the cost of it is not relevant," he explained.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
Several in the tutoring industry who have similar reservations.
Another CEO, chief executive of an educational organization, who supplies private tutors, wrote that "the process of becoming bicultural, or actually, becoming oneself, is something that must be lived into, not designed."
He explained that he had emigrated from the Far East to the Britain at the time of childhood, and had been raised understanding and embodying dual heritages. He progressed to learn at a prestigious UK institution.
"The idea that an individual can serve as a living vessel of English culture, someone who can somehow transfer the characteristics of a UK sophisticate upon a 12-month-old child, appears optimistic and impractical," he stated.
"From my perspective, engaging a quintessentially UK tutor from babyhood will not instantly produce the outcome they desire.
"I wasn't provided with that kind of mentor, and nevertheless I have been lucky enough to enjoy several of the situations they desire for their son."
He added: "The truth is, cultural identity should not be imposed from the external environment; it must be chosen, and it must come from within."
Buying Britishness
Naturally, English culture is something the expert believes can be instructed – and commercialized.
"In my view the situation that the international society regards us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
