"A family located in north London wants to find an exceptional and qualified tutor to assist their most junior child on his early path to turning into an British gentleman."
Upon seeing this post, you might naturally miss the term "first-steps" as simple a turn of phrase.
Yet, it might be the most important element of this unusual position posting, as it attempts to hire a tutor for a one-year-old.
Many of responses have since been submitted since the unnamed family advertised their search for the £180,000 per year tutor, who must be "someone very special".
During the past few weeks, the advert has received attention throughout the media, with several asking why?
Forward-Thinking Method
The CEO, chief executive of Tutors International, which is assisting the family in their quest, said that in spite of first skepticism, he considered the concept "visionary", and "progressive".
When he met the family, he noted they appreciated the unconventional aspect of their demand, and how immature their son is.
However, they stated that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to get a tutor, as they had postponed until their older child was five, and by that age "cultural conditioning had by then become established".
But what does the family mean by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "everything", Adam responded. "The way you eat, the way you speak".
He stated the elder child had adopted "extremely delicate, unspoken signals" from the family, and had adopted their cultural norms. The family told him they did not want the same situation to happen again with their new baby.
The strategy: To hire a English tutor, who should speak with RP, to shape the baby from day one.
Osmotic Learning
"A lot of the education at the beginning here is somewhat osmotic," said the CEO.
It's by means of this subtle influence that the family are expecting the child will acquire the English characteristics they aim to impart.
The consultant explained the tutor had to be someone who attended "the right kinds of schools – comparable categories of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The educator just has to be the right kind of person, they'll be doing things they don't even know they're doing, just naturally," he added.
Cost Not Relevant
The family told Adam the selected educator should ideally also have knowledge of or enthusiasm in riding, alpine skiing, artistic pursuits and musical activities so as to influence the child in a wide range of interests.
Furthermore though, he said the family desired the tutor to register the child on a variety of lessons so the child would be "pony-riding and learning an instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's perspective, assisting their son become a "UK sophisticate" will result in success and create opportunities.
"Taking into account the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's definitely a status symbol," he adds.
However, despite all this instruction in "Britishness", might the child adopt so-called cultural leaning from the international family he lives with anyway?
"Certainly", answered the CEO. "The family realize this may not work, but they've merely embraced the perspective of, 'we should try and let's go as early as we can', because the expense of it is not relevant," he stated.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
A number of in the education sector who have these concerns.
Peter Cui, CEO and founder of a tutoring service, who supplies private tutors, wrote that "the journey of embracing two identities, or in fact, becoming oneself, is something that must be grown into, not manufactured."
He wrote that he had emigrated from the Far East to the United Kingdom at the time of childhood, and had been brought up knowing and practicing both cultures. He went on to be educated at Cambridge University.
"The idea that one individual can function as a living vessel of UK identity, an individual who can in some way transplant the characteristics of a UK sophisticate upon a infant child, strikes me as idealistic and unrealistic," he commented.
"In my experience, engaging a quintessentially UK tutor from early childhood will will not automatically create the outcome they desire.
"I never had such a figure, and nevertheless I have been lucky enough to experience many of the opportunities they desire for their son."
He continued: "The reality is, cultural identity should not be imposed from the outside influences; it must be chosen, and it must come from within."
Buying Britishness
Of course, English culture is something the expert believes can be educated – and commercialized.
"I believe the fact that the global community holds us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
