"A household located in north London is looking for an extraordinary and qualified instructor to guide their most junior child on his early path to becoming an British gentleman."
Upon seeing this advertisement, you might easily miss the phrase "first-steps" as simple an expression.
However, it might be the most important element of this distinctive position posting, as it attempts to hire a tutor for a 12-month-old.
Numerous of submissions have already been submitted since the unnamed family advertised their search for the £180k-a-year tutor, who has to be "a uniquely qualified person".
In recent few weeks, the listing has attracted attention in the news, with several questioning why?
Innovative Idea
A tutoring expert, chief executive of an education consultancy, which is assisting the family in their hunt, explained that notwithstanding early scepticism, he found the idea "far sighted", and "advanced".
When he spoke with the family, he said they recognized the atypical aspect of their request, and how young their son is.
But, they stated that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had held off until their elder sibling was five, and by that stage "cultural influence had already taken hold".
But what does the family mean by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "comprehensive", Adam responded. "The way you eat, the way you speak".
He said the older sibling had adopted "very nuanced, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had taken on their cultural norms. The family informed him they wished to avoid the same situation to happen again with their younger child.
The plan: To hire a UK tutor, who needs to speak with standard English accent, to shape the baby right from the beginning.
Osmotic Learning
"A lot of the education at the beginning here is somewhat acquired indirectly," said Adam.
It's via this osmosis that the family are aiming the child will acquire the English characteristics they aim to instil.
The consultant explained the tutor had to be someone who studied at "the appropriate educational institutions – comparable categories of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The tutor just has to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be carrying out things they aren't even aware they're doing, just naturally," he added.
Expense Not a Factor
The family told Adam the successful candidate should ideally also have familiarity of or passion in riding, skiing, the arts and musical activities so as to shape the child in a wide range of interests.
Furthermore though, he explained the family wanted the tutor to enrol the child on a variety of courses so the child would be "equestrian training and picking up an tool by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's perspective, assisting their son become a "English gentleman" will lead to accomplishment and create opportunities.
"Taking into account the rights and wrongs of that, because it's certainly a social class indicator," he notes.
However, despite all this tutelage in "English culture", might the child absorb alleged cultural leaning from the international family he resides with regardless?
"Certainly", answered Adam. "They realize this could fail, but they've simply adopted the view of, 'why not attempt it and we should start as quickly as we can', because the price of it is not a concern," he said.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
There are some in the education sector who express those reservations.
An education leader, CEO and founder of a tutoring service, who also offer personal educators, wrote that "the journey of becoming bicultural, or actually, discovering oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not designed."
Peter wrote that he had relocated from China to the United Kingdom at the time of seven, and had been educated experiencing and living both cultures. He went on to be educated at a prestigious UK institution.
"The notion that an individual can function as a living vessel of UK identity, a person who can somehow impart the qualities of a UK sophisticate onto a 12-month-old child, appears idealistic and unfeasible," he wrote.
"Based on my background, having a distinctly English tutor from babyhood will will not automatically achieve the goal they hope for.
"I never had such a tutor, and however I have been privileged enough to enjoy many of the experiences they aspire for their son."
He stated: "The reality is, cultural identity cannot be forced from the outside; it must be embraced, and it must originate internally."
Acquiring Englishness
Naturally, English culture is something Adam hopes can be taught – and marketed.
"In my view the reality that the global community holds us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
