"A household residing in the northern part of London seeks an remarkable and qualified tutor to guide their smallest child on his initial journey to becoming an English gentleman."
Upon seeing this post, you might naturally miss the phrase "first-steps" as mere a turn of phrase.
However, it may be the most important part of this distinctive job advert, as it seeks to find a tutor for a one-year-old.
Numerous of submissions have since been sent in since the unnamed family posted their request for the highly paid tutor, who needs to be "someone very special".
In recent few weeks, the post has received interest across the news, with numerous asking why?
Progressive Approach
The CEO, head and founder of Tutors International, which is supporting the family in their search, said that despite initial scepticism, he considered the idea "far sighted", and "innovative".
When he met the family, he said they appreciated the unconventional aspect of their request, and how early in age their son is.
However, they stated that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to get a tutor, as they had held off until their older child was five, and by that stage "cultural influence had already become established".
But what does the family indicate by "cultural leaning"?
It's "all-encompassing", Adam answered. "How you eat, how you speak".
He said the firstborn had absorbed "really subtle, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had assumed their cultural norms. The family explained to the consultant they did not want the same situation to recur with their infant.
The strategy: To bring in a British tutor, who must speak with standard English accent, to shape the baby from day one.
Osmotic Learning
"A lot of the development at the beginning here is somewhat osmotic," explained the expert.
It's by means of this natural absorption that the family are aiming the child will pick up the British traits they aim to cultivate.
The consultant explained the tutor had to be someone who attended "prestigious academies – the same kinds of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The instructor must be the right kind of person, they'll be performing things they may not realize they're doing, simply by nature," he said.
Money No Object
The family explained to him the chosen tutor should ideally also have knowledge of or passion in riding, alpine skiing, creative fields and musical activities so as to shape the child in a diverse set of interests.
Additionally though, he explained the family wanted the tutor to sign up the child on a range of classes so the child would be "horseback riding and picking up an tool by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's minds, assisting their son grow into a "British gentleman" will lead to accomplishment and provide access.
"For all the pros and cons of that, because it's undoubtedly a status symbol," he adds.
But, notwithstanding all this instruction in "Britishness", might the child adopt alleged cultural bias from the international family he is raised by anyway?
"Certainly", answered he. "The parents understand this might not succeed, but they've just taken the perspective of, 'we should try and let's go as soon as we can', because the cost of it is irrelevant," he stated.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
Several in the education sector who have similar doubts.
An education leader, chief executive of Blue Education, who supplies private tutors, stated that "the process of becoming bicultural, or in fact, discovering oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not designed."
The expert explained that he had emigrated from the Far East to the United Kingdom at the age of childhood, and had been raised understanding and living two backgrounds. He progressed to learn at the University of Cambridge.
"The idea that an individual can act as a living vessel of UK identity, an individual who can somehow transplant the attributes of a British gentleman to a 12-month-old child, seems to me naive and impractical," he wrote.
"Based on my background, engaging a typically UK tutor from babyhood will not necessarily produce the result they hope for.
"I wasn't provided with that kind of mentor, and nevertheless I have been privileged enough to enjoy numerous of the experiences they desire for their son."
He continued: "The fact is, personal identity cannot be imposed from the outside influences; it must be chosen, and it must be internally driven."
Acquiring Englishness
Certainly, English culture is something Adam hopes can be educated – and sold.
"I believe the fact that the global community holds us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
