"A family located in the northern part of London seeks an remarkable and experienced educator to assist their most junior child on his early path to becoming an British gentleman."
Looking at this listing, you might easily miss the term "first-steps" as just an expression.
But, it may be the most significant element of this distinctive job advert, as it attempts to hire a teacher for a infant.
Many of submissions have now been received since the unidentified family posted their search for the highly paid tutor, who must be "a uniquely qualified person".
During the past few weeks, the advert has gained notice across the press, with several questioning why?
Innovative Idea
Adam Caller, chief executive of Tutors International, which is supporting the family in their quest, stated that notwithstanding first scepticism, he viewed the concept "forward-looking", and "progressive".
When he met the family, he noted they recognized the unusual nature of their request, and how immature their son is.
Nevertheless, they explained that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had waited until their older child was five, and by that age "cultural influence had already taken hold".
But what did the family refer to by "cultural bias"?
It's "all-encompassing", the expert answered. "The way you eat, how you speak".
He explained the older sibling had absorbed "very nuanced, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had taken on their cultural ways. The family informed him they hoped to prevent history to recur with their younger child.
The strategy: To engage a English tutor, who needs to speak with standard English accent, to influence the baby from day one.
Natural Absorption
"A lot of the learning at the beginning here is rather osmotic," explained the expert.
It's through this subtle influence that the family are hoping the child will acquire the English characteristics they aim to instil.
Adam explained the tutor must be somebody who went to "prestigious academies – the same kinds of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The instructor just has to be the right kind of person, they'll be performing things they don't even know they're doing, effortlessly," he commented.
Expense Not a Factor
The family told the expert the chosen tutor should ideally also have familiarity of or interest in equestrian activities, skiing, the arts and music so as to shape the child in a diverse set of interests.
More than that though, he explained the family hoped the tutor to register the child on a variety of lessons so the child would be "horseback riding and learning an instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's perspective, assisting their son develop into a "British gentleman" will bring about achievement and provide access.
"Taking into account the rights and wrongs of that, because it's definitely a social class indicator," he adds.
Yet, in spite of all this guidance in "UK identity", might the child adopt what is termed cultural bias from the multicultural family he is raised by in any case?
"Absolutely", said the CEO. "The family realize this may not work, but they've simply adopted the view of, 'let's give it a go and we'll proceed as early as we can', because the price of it is irrelevant," he stated.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
A number of in the tutoring industry who express these doubts.
Another CEO, CEO and founder of an educational organization, who supplies personal educators, commented that "the process of becoming bicultural, or indeed, forming one's identity, is something that must be lived into, not manufactured."
Peter wrote that he had emigrated from China to the Britain at the period of seven, and had been brought up knowing and embodying both cultures. He went on to study at a prestigious UK institution.
"The notion that one individual can function as a living vessel of UK identity, an individual who can in some way transfer the qualities of a English gentleman onto a 12-month-old child, strikes me as idealistic and impractical," he wrote.
"From my perspective, employing a typically UK tutor from infancy will does not necessarily produce the result they hope for.
"I wasn't provided with such a figure, and however I have been lucky enough to enjoy several of the experiences they hope for their son."
He continued: "The reality is, self-identity cannot be dictated from the outside influences; it must be selected, and it must originate internally."
Purchasing UK Culture
Naturally, Britishness is something Adam hopes can be educated – and commercialized.
"In my view the reality that the global community views us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
