"Parents located in the northern part of London seeks an extraordinary and skilled tutor to support their youngest child on his initial journey to turning into an British gentleman."
Looking at this post, you might naturally overlook the phrase "first-steps" as just a turn of phrase.
Yet, it might be the most significant part of this distinctive job advert, as it aims to hire a teacher for a infant.
Numerous of submissions have now been sent in since the unidentified family posted their search for the £180k-a-year tutor, who has to be "an exceptional individual".
Over the last few weeks, the listing has attracted notice across the news, with several asking why?
Forward-Thinking Method
Adam Caller, head and founder of an education consultancy, which is helping the family in their hunt, stated that in spite of first scepticism, he found the idea "visionary", and "advanced".
When he spoke with the family, he mentioned they understood the unconventional aspect of their demand, and how young their son is.
However, they clarified that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had waited until their firstborn was five, and by that stage "cultural conditioning had by then taken hold".
But what does the family refer to by "cultural leaning"?
It's "everything", the expert responded. "The manner you eat, the manner you speak".
He said the elder child had absorbed "very nuanced, unspoken signals" from the family, and had taken on their cultural ways. The family informed the consultant they did not want history to repeat itself with their infant.
The strategy: To bring in a British tutor, who needs to speak with Received Pronunciation, to guide the baby right from the beginning.
Subtle Influence
"Much of the development at the start here is somewhat osmotic," said Adam.
It's through this osmosis that the family are hoping the child will adopt the English characteristics they aim to instil.
He noted the tutor had to be an individual who studied at "the appropriate educational institutions – similar types of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The tutor simply needs to be the right kind of person, they'll be carrying out things they don't even know they're doing, just naturally," he said.
Expense Not a Factor
The family told Adam the chosen tutor should ideally also have familiarity of or passion in horse riding, winter sports, creative fields and instrumental training so as to shape the child in a wide range of interests.
Furthermore though, he explained the family desired the tutor to register the child on a variety of classes so the child would be "horseback riding and starting an instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's view, guiding their son develop into a "English gentleman" will lead to success and create opportunities.
"Considering the rights and wrongs of that, because it's definitely a status symbol," he adds.
However, in spite of all this instruction in "UK identity", would the child absorb alleged cultural leaning from the globally influenced family he is raised by anyway?
"Yes", said he. "The parents understand this could fail, but they've simply adopted the view of, 'let's give it a go and we should start as soon as we can', because the cost of it is not relevant," he explained.
Impractical
There are some in the private teaching field who express these reservations.
Another CEO, chief executive of a tutoring service, who provides personal educators, stated that "the process of becoming bicultural, or in fact, forming one's identity, is something that must be experienced personally, not engineered."
Peter explained that he had moved from Asia to the UK at the time of seven, and had been educated knowing and living both cultures. He progressed to learn at the University of Cambridge.
"The idea that a single person can act as a living vessel of Britishness, an individual who can possibly transplant the attributes of a UK sophisticate onto a infant child, seems to me naive and impractical," he stated.
"Based on my background, having a typically UK tutor from infancy will not instantly produce the result they hope for.
"I wasn't provided with that kind of mentor, and yet I have been fortunate enough to experience several of the opportunities they hope for their son."
He stated: "The fact is, self-identity cannot be dictated from the external environment; it must be selected, and it must come from within."
Buying Britishness
Naturally, UK identity is something Adam believes can be taught – and marketed.
"I think the fact that the world regards us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
