"A household based in north London wants to find an extraordinary and experienced tutor to assist their smallest child on his early path to becoming an British gentleman."
Looking at this listing, you might easily skip the wording "first-steps" as simple figurative language.
However, it may be the most significant part of this unusual job advert, as it attempts to hire a tutor for a one-year-old.
Hundreds of submissions have since been submitted since the unidentified family posted their request for the £180k-a-year tutor, who must be "someone very special".
During the past few weeks, the advert has received attention across the news, with several asking why?
Forward-Thinking Method
A tutoring expert, head and founder of an education consultancy, which is helping the family in their search, said that in spite of first doubt, he found the plan "visionary", and "progressive".
When he spoke with the family, he mentioned they recognized the atypical nature of their requirement, and how early in age their son is.
But, they clarified that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had postponed until their elder sibling was five, and by that point "cultural conditioning had by then taken hold".
But what did the family refer to by "cultural leaning"?
It's "everything", Adam answered. "How you eat, the manner you speak".
He stated the older sibling had absorbed "very nuanced, body language" from the family, and had taken on their cultural habits. The family told the consultant they hoped to prevent the same situation to happen again with their new baby.
The plan: To hire a UK tutor, who needs to speak with RP, to shape the baby from day one.
Subtle Influence
"A lot of the education at the outset here is rather osmotic," stated the expert.
It's via this subtle influence that the family are aiming the child will pick up the UK customs they wish to impart.
Adam said the tutor had to be an individual who studied at "the right kinds of schools – the same kinds of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The tutor simply needs to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be doing things they aren't even aware they're doing, simply by nature," he said.
Expense Not a Factor
The family explained to Adam the chosen tutor should ideally also have understanding of or interest in equestrian activities, skiing, artistic pursuits and music so as to inspire the child in a wide range of hobbies.
Furthermore though, he said the family wanted the tutor to sign up the child on a variety of courses so the child would be "equestrian training and starting an tool by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's view, helping their son develop into a "UK sophisticate" will bring about success and create opportunities.
"Considering the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's undoubtedly a social class indicator," he adds.
Yet, despite all this tutelage in "Britishness", would the child adopt what is termed cultural bias from the globally influenced family he is raised by in any case?
"Certainly", said he. "The parents know this could fail, but they've just taken the attitude of, 'we should try and we'll proceed as quickly as we can', because the cost of it is not relevant," he said.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
Several in the private teaching field who have similar doubts.
Peter Cui, chief executive of an educational organization, who supplies private tutors, commented that "the journey of becoming bicultural, or indeed, becoming oneself, is something that must be grown into, not engineered."
The expert explained that he had emigrated from China to the Britain at the age of 7 years old, and had been brought up experiencing and embodying dual heritages. He went on to be educated at a prestigious UK institution.
"The idea that an individual can act as a representation of Britishness, a person who can somehow transfer the characteristics of a English gentleman onto a 12-month-old child, seems to me idealistic and impractical," he wrote.
"Based on my background, engaging a distinctly English tutor from early childhood will will not automatically create the goal they desire.
"I never had that kind of mentor, and yet I have been privileged enough to live several of the situations they desire for their son."
He continued: "The fact is, self-identity cannot be dictated from the outside; it must be embraced, and it must originate internally."
Purchasing UK Culture
Of course, UK identity is something Adam hopes can be instructed – and marketed.
"I think the fact that the world holds us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
