"Parents residing in North London seeks an exceptional and qualified instructor to assist their smallest child on his initial journey to becoming an English gentleman."
Looking at this advertisement, you might readily overlook the wording "first-steps" as simple a turn of phrase.
But, it may be the most important aspect of this unusual employment listing, as it seeks to recruit a tutor for a one-year-old.
Hundreds of responses have already been submitted since the unidentified family posted their call for the £180k-a-year tutor, who has to be "a uniquely qualified person".
During the past few weeks, the advert has attracted interest in the news, with many wondering why?
Innovative Idea
Adam Caller, CEO and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is assisting the family in their hunt, explained that notwithstanding initial scepticism, he viewed the idea "visionary", and "progressive".
When he spoke with the family, he said they recognized the unusual character of their requirement, and how young their son is.
However, they stated that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had postponed until their firstborn was five, and by that age "cultural bias had already become established".
What precisely did the family indicate by "cultural leaning"?
It's "comprehensive", he replied. "How you eat, the way you speak".
He stated the elder child had absorbed "extremely delicate, unspoken signals" from the family, and had assumed their cultural ways. The family informed him they wished to avoid history to repeat itself with their infant.
The intention: To engage a English tutor, who should speak with standard English accent, to guide the baby from the very start.
Natural Absorption
"Much of the learning at the outset here is rather acquired indirectly," explained the CEO.
It's through this subtle influence that the family are aiming the child will acquire the British traits they aim to cultivate.
Adam noted the tutor must be someone who went to "the appropriate educational institutions – similar types of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The educator just has to be the suitable individual, they'll be performing things they aren't even aware they're doing, just naturally," he added.
Money No Object
The family told Adam the chosen tutor should ideally also have familiarity of or passion in horse riding, alpine skiing, the arts and musical activities so as to influence the child in a diverse set of interests.
More than that though, he said the family desired the tutor to sign up the child on a variety of courses so the child would be "horseback riding and starting an tool by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's minds, assisting their son develop into a "UK sophisticate" will lead to achievement and create opportunities.
"For all the pros and cons of that, because it's undoubtedly a social class indicator," he notes.
Yet, notwithstanding all this guidance in "English culture", could the child absorb so-called cultural bias from the multicultural family he resides with in any case?
"Absolutely", replied Adam. "The family realize this could fail, but they've merely embraced the view of, 'why not attempt it and we should start as early as we can', because the price of it is not relevant," he stated.
Impractical
There are some in the education sector who have these reservations.
An education leader, CEO and founder of Blue Education, who supplies individual instructors, stated that "the process of embracing two identities, or indeed, forming one's identity, is something that must be grown into, not designed."
Peter explained that he had moved from Asia to the United Kingdom at the age of childhood, and had been brought up knowing and embodying dual heritages. He went on to study at the University of Cambridge.
"The idea that an individual can function as a representation of Britishness, an individual who can possibly transfer the attributes of a English gentleman to a one-year-old child, strikes me as optimistic and impractical," he commented.
"In my experience, employing a typically English tutor from infancy will will not necessarily achieve the outcome they desire.
"I never had such a tutor, and yet I have been fortunate enough to enjoy several of the experiences they desire for their son."
He added: "The truth is, self-identity cannot be forced from the outside influences; it must be selected, and it must be internally driven."
Acquiring Englishness
Of course, UK identity is something the expert hopes can be educated – and sold.
"I think the situation that the international society views us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
