"A family residing in the northern part of London wants to find an exceptional and skilled instructor to assist their smallest child on his initial journey to becoming an British gentleman."
Looking at this listing, you might readily skip the wording "first-steps" as simple figurative language.
Yet, it could be the most important aspect of this unusual position posting, as it aims to recruit a tutor for a one-year-old.
Hundreds of applications have since been received since the anonymous family posted their call for the highly paid tutor, who has to be "a uniquely qualified person".
Over the last few weeks, the advert has gained notice throughout the press, with several asking why?
Progressive Approach
Adam Caller, CEO and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is helping the family in their hunt, explained that notwithstanding initial skepticism, he found the plan "visionary", and "progressive".
When he consulted the family, he mentioned they understood the unusual character of their requirement, and how young their son is.
But, they clarified that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had waited until their firstborn was five, and by that age "cultural bias had already taken hold".
But what did the family mean by "cultural leaning"?
It's "comprehensive", Adam answered. "The manner you eat, the way you speak".
He stated the elder child had absorbed "extremely delicate, body language" from the family, and had taken on their cultural ways. The family explained to the consultant they did not want the same situation to happen again with their new baby.
The plan: To engage a English tutor, who needs to speak with Received Pronunciation, to shape the baby right from the beginning.
Natural Absorption
"A lot of the development at the outset here is rather acquired indirectly," stated Adam.
It's through this osmosis that the family are hoping the child will pick up the UK customs they want to cultivate.
The consultant noted the tutor must be an individual who studied at "the appropriate educational institutions – comparable categories of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The educator just has to be the suitable individual, they'll be performing things they may not realize they're doing, just naturally," he added.
Money No Object
The family explained to him the successful candidate should ideally also have knowledge of or interest in riding, alpine skiing, artistic pursuits and musical activities so as to influence the child in a broad spectrum of passions.
More than that though, he said the family wanted the tutor to sign up the child on a selection of courses so the child would be "pony-riding and picking up an musical instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's view, assisting their son become a "UK sophisticate" will lead to achievement and open doors.
"For all the pros and cons of that, because it's certainly a class statement," he adds.
Yet, notwithstanding all this tutelage in "Britishness", could the child pick up alleged cultural leaning from the multicultural family he lives with anyway?
"Absolutely", answered the CEO. "The parents understand this could fail, but they've just taken the attitude of, 'we should try and let's go as early as we can', because the expense of it is not a concern," he explained.
Impractical
There are some in the tutoring industry who share those reservations.
An education leader, head and founder of an educational organization, who also offer private tutors, wrote that "the journey of becoming bicultural, or in fact, discovering oneself, is something that must be grown into, not designed."
Peter wrote that he had moved from the Far East to the UK at the time of seven, and had been brought up knowing and embodying both cultures. He continued to be educated at a prestigious UK institution.
"The concept that one individual can serve as a representation of UK identity, a person who can possibly transfer the attributes of a UK sophisticate upon a 12-month-old child, appears naive and unrealistic," he wrote.
"In my experience, engaging a quintessentially British tutor from infancy will will not automatically produce the goal they hope for.
"I never had such a figure, and yet I have been privileged enough to live several of the situations they hope for their son."
He continued: "The reality is, personal identity can not be imposed from the external environment; it must be chosen, and it must be internally driven."
Purchasing UK Culture
Naturally, English culture is something Adam believes can be educated – and sold.
"I think the reality that the international society holds us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
