"A family located in the northern part of London wants to find an remarkable and experienced educator to assist their youngest child on his early path to turning into an British gentleman."
When reading this listing, you might naturally skip the phrase "first-steps" as just figurative language.
Yet, it could be the crucial element of this unusual employment listing, as it aims to find a teacher for a 12-month-old.
Many of responses have now been submitted since the anonymous family posted their search for the £180k-a-year tutor, who has to be "someone very special".
Over the last few weeks, the post has attracted notice in the media, with several asking why?
Progressive Approach
The CEO, CEO and founder of Tutors International, which is helping the family in their search, stated that notwithstanding first skepticism, he viewed the idea "visionary", and "advanced".
When he met the family, he mentioned they appreciated the atypical nature of their requirement, and how immature their son is.
Nevertheless, they stated that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to get a tutor, as they had held off until their older child was five, and by that age "cultural bias had already become established".
But what did the family mean by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "comprehensive", Adam responded. "The way you eat, the manner you speak".
He said the firstborn had picked up "extremely delicate, unspoken signals" from the family, and had adopted their cultural habits. The family told the consultant they hoped to prevent history to happen again with their younger child.
The intention: To engage a British tutor, who needs to speak with standard English accent, to shape the baby from the very start.
Subtle Influence
"A lot of the development at the start here is somewhat osmotic," stated Adam.
It's via this subtle influence that the family are hoping the child will acquire the British traits they aim to instil.
The consultant explained the tutor must be someone who went to "the right kinds of schools – similar types of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The instructor must be the suitable individual, they'll be doing things they may not realize they're doing, effortlessly," he added.
Expense Not a Factor
The family explained to Adam the selected educator should preferably also have knowledge of or passion in horse riding, winter sports, artistic pursuits and music so as to shape the child in a diverse set of hobbies.
More than that though, he said the family wanted the tutor to enrol the child on a selection of lessons so the child would be "pony-riding and starting an tool by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's view, assisting their son develop into a "English gentleman" will lead to success and provide access.
"Considering the pros and cons of that, because it's certainly a social class indicator," he adds.
But, in spite of all this guidance in "UK identity", might the child pick up so-called cultural bias from the globally influenced family he is raised by in any case?
"Yes", answered Adam. "They understand this may not work, but they've simply adopted the perspective of, 'let's give it a go and we'll proceed as soon as we can', because the cost of it is not a concern," he explained.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
There are some in the private teaching field who share similar concerns.
An education leader, chief executive of a tutoring service, who supplies private tutors, wrote that "the process of becoming bicultural, or indeed, becoming oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not designed."
He wrote that he had relocated from the Far East to the Britain at the period of seven, and had been raised understanding and embodying two backgrounds. He went on to learn at a prestigious UK institution.
"The concept that one individual can act as a embodiment of Britishness, a person who can in some way transfer the qualities of a British gentleman to a one-year-old child, seems to me optimistic and unfeasible," he commented.
"From my perspective, engaging a distinctly British tutor from babyhood will not automatically create the outcome they want.
"I never had such a figure, and nevertheless I have been privileged enough to experience many of the experiences they hope for their son."
He added: "The truth is, cultural identity can not be forced from the outside; it must be embraced, and it must be internally driven."
Acquiring Englishness
Of course, Britishness is something the CEO thinks can be instructed – and marketed.
"In my view the situation that the global community holds us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
