"Parents residing in the northern part of London seeks an exceptional and experienced instructor to guide their smallest child on his early path to growing into an English gentleman."
Looking at this advertisement, you might easily overlook the wording "first-steps" as just a turn of phrase.
However, it may be the most important part of this unique employment listing, as it seeks to find a tutor for a 12-month-old.
Many of applications have since been sent in since the anonymous family advertised their search for the £180,000 per year tutor, who needs to be "someone very special".
Over the last few weeks, the advert has gained interest throughout the news, with several questioning why?
Progressive Approach
The CEO, chief executive of a global tutoring firm, which is assisting the family in their quest, explained that despite early skepticism, he found the concept "visionary", and "progressive".
When he spoke with the family, he mentioned they understood the unconventional nature of their demand, and how young their son is.
Nevertheless, they explained that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to get a tutor, as they had held off until their firstborn was five, and by that point "cultural influence had already set in".
What precisely does the family mean by "cultural leaning"?
It's "everything", the expert responded. "The way you eat, the way you speak".
He said the older sibling had absorbed "very nuanced, unspoken signals" from the family, and had assumed their cultural ways. The family told Adam they hoped to prevent the same situation to happen again with their new baby.
The plan: To engage a British tutor, who should speak with Received Pronunciation, to influence the baby from day one.
Osmotic Learning
"A lot of the learning at the beginning here is somewhat acquired indirectly," stated the CEO.
It's via this natural absorption that the family are aiming the child will acquire the UK customs they want to instil.
He noted the tutor must be someone who studied at "prestigious academies – similar types of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The instructor simply needs to be the suitable individual, they'll be performing things they may not realize they're doing, simply by nature," he added.
Cost Not Relevant
The family explained to Adam the chosen tutor should preferably also have understanding of or interest in horse riding, skiing, the arts and instrumental training so as to influence the child in a wide range of hobbies.
More than that though, he explained the family wanted the tutor to enrol the child on a range of lessons so the child would be "pony-riding and learning an instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's minds, helping their son grow into a "English gentleman" will lead to achievement and provide access.
"For all the rights and wrongs of that, because it's definitely a class statement," he adds.
However, despite all this guidance in "Britishness", would the child adopt so-called cultural influence from the international family he lives with regardless?
"Certainly", said Adam. "The family realize this could fail, but they've simply adopted the view of, 'why not attempt it and let's go as soon as we can', because the cost of it is not a concern," he explained.
Overly Optimistic
A number of in the education sector who express those concerns.
Another CEO, head and founder of Blue Education, who also offer individual instructors, wrote that "the development of adopting dual cultures, or actually, forming one's identity, is something that must be grown into, not engineered."
Peter explained that he had emigrated from China to the Britain at the time of 7 years old, and had been brought up knowing and embodying two backgrounds. He progressed to study at a prestigious UK institution.
"The idea that an individual can function as a embodiment of UK identity, an individual who can somehow transplant the qualities of a English gentleman to a infant child, strikes me as optimistic and unfeasible," he wrote.
"From my perspective, having a quintessentially British tutor from early childhood will not necessarily achieve the result they desire.
"I never had such a figure, and however I have been fortunate enough to enjoy many of the situations they desire for their son."
He stated: "The reality is, personal identity should not be forced from the external environment; it must be selected, and it must come from within."
Purchasing UK Culture
Naturally, Britishness is something the expert believes can be taught – and marketed.
"I think the reality that the international society views us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
