"Parents located in north London seeks an exceptional and experienced instructor to assist their most junior child on his initial journey to turning into an British gentleman."
Looking at this post, you might easily skip the wording "first-steps" as mere figurative language.
Yet, it could be the crucial element of this unusual job advert, as it seeks to find a tutor for a one-year-old.
Numerous of applications have since been submitted since the unidentified family advertised their search for the £180,000 per year tutor, who has to be "someone very special".
Over the last few weeks, the post has attracted attention across the news, with several asking why?
Forward-Thinking Method
The CEO, head and founder of Tutors International, which is helping the family in their search, stated that in spite of first scepticism, he viewed the plan "visionary", and "innovative".
When he consulted the family, he mentioned they understood the unconventional character of their request, and how immature their son is.
However, they explained that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to get a tutor, as they had held off until their firstborn was five, and by that age "cultural influence had already taken hold".
What exactly did the family indicate by "cultural bias"?
It's "comprehensive", Adam responded. "How you eat, the manner you speak".
He explained the older sibling had picked up "very nuanced, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had adopted their cultural habits. The family informed him they hoped to prevent this pattern to repeat itself with their new baby.
The plan: To hire a UK tutor, who must speak with standard English accent, to influence the baby from the very start.
Osmotic Learning
"Much of the development at the beginning here is kind of absorbed naturally," stated the expert.
It's through this osmosis that the family are expecting the child will adopt the UK customs they aim to instil.
Adam explained the tutor needed to be somebody who attended "the appropriate educational institutions – similar types of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The tutor simply needs to be the right kind of person, they'll be performing things they may not realize they're doing, effortlessly," he commented.
Money No Object
The family explained to him the successful candidate should preferably also have knowledge of or interest in horse riding, skiing, creative fields and music so as to inspire the child in a diverse set of interests.
Additionally though, he said the family wanted the tutor to register the child on a variety of courses so the child would be "horseback riding and learning an tool by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's minds, helping their son develop into a "British gentleman" will bring about accomplishment and provide access.
"Taking into account the rights and wrongs of that, because it's certainly a social class indicator," he comments.
However, in spite of all this tutelage in "UK identity", might the child adopt so-called cultural influence from the multicultural family he resides with anyway?
"Certainly", answered Adam. "The family understand this may not work, but they've simply adopted the view of, 'let's give it a go and let's go as soon as we can', because the cost of it is not a concern," he explained.
Impractical
A number of in the tutoring industry who share similar concerns.
Peter Cui, CEO and founder of an educational organization, who supplies individual instructors, commented that "the journey of embracing two identities, or in fact, discovering oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not manufactured."
He noted that he had moved from China to the Britain at the period of seven, and had been educated understanding and practicing dual heritages. He continued to study at a prestigious UK institution.
"The notion that one individual can serve as a embodiment of English culture, someone who can possibly transplant the qualities of a British gentleman upon a infant child, strikes me as idealistic and impractical," he commented.
"In my experience, engaging a typically UK tutor from babyhood will not necessarily produce the result they desire.
"I never had that kind of mentor, and nevertheless I have been privileged enough to live several of the situations they hope for their son."
He continued: "The reality is, self-identity should not be dictated from the outside influences; it must be selected, and it must be internally driven."
Acquiring Englishness
Of course, English culture is something the CEO thinks can be taught – and sold.
"I believe the situation that the world views us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
