"A family based in the northern part of London seeks an remarkable and skilled educator to support their youngest child on his early path to becoming an English gentleman."
Upon seeing this post, you might easily miss the term "first-steps" as simple figurative language.
However, it could be the crucial part of this unique job advert, as it seeks to find a tutor for a infant.
Hundreds of applications have since been received since the unidentified family advertised their search for the highly paid tutor, who has to be "someone very special".
In recent few weeks, the listing has attracted attention across the media, with several asking why?
Forward-Thinking Method
The CEO, chief executive of an education consultancy, which is assisting the family in their quest, said that notwithstanding first doubt, he found the plan "visionary", and "progressive".
When he spoke with the family, he noted they recognized the unusual aspect of their request, and how immature their son is.
But, they clarified that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had postponed until their elder sibling was five, and by that point "cultural conditioning had already taken hold".
What exactly did the family refer to by "cultural leaning"?
It's "comprehensive", the expert responded. "The manner you eat, how you speak".
He explained the older sibling had adopted "extremely delicate, unspoken signals" from the family, and had adopted their cultural habits. The family told the consultant they did not want history to recur with their new baby.
The intention: To hire a English tutor, who should speak with Received Pronunciation, to shape the baby right from the beginning.
Subtle Influence
"A lot of the education at the start here is somewhat osmotic," said the expert.
It's by means of this subtle influence that the family are aiming the child will adopt the British traits they wish to instil.
He said the tutor needed to be somebody who went to "prestigious academies – comparable categories of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The instructor must be the appropriate candidate, they'll be performing things they aren't even aware they're doing, simply by nature," he added.
Expense Not a Factor
The family told him the successful candidate 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.
Additionally though, he said the family hoped the tutor to sign up the child on a variety of lessons so the child would be "pony-riding and starting an musical instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's view, guiding their son become a "English gentleman" will bring about success and open doors.
"Considering the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's certainly a status symbol," he notes.
But, notwithstanding all this tutelage in "Britishness", might the child absorb so-called cultural leaning from the globally influenced family he resides with anyway?
"Yes", said the CEO. "They know this might not succeed, but they've just taken the perspective of, 'why not attempt it and we should start as soon as we can', because the price of it is not a concern," he said.
Overly Optimistic
Several in the tutoring industry who share similar doubts.
Another CEO, CEO and founder of an educational organization, who also offer private tutors, commented that "the journey of adopting dual cultures, or actually, becoming oneself, is something that must be lived into, not manufactured."
The expert noted that he had relocated from China to the UK at the period of childhood, and had been educated experiencing and embodying dual heritages. He went on to study at the University of Cambridge.
"The concept that one individual can function as a representation of UK identity, someone who can in some way transplant the characteristics of a English gentleman to a 12-month-old child, seems to me naive and unrealistic," he wrote.
"From my perspective, employing a quintessentially UK tutor from infancy will does not necessarily achieve the goal they desire.
"I did not have such a tutor, and yet I have been lucky enough to enjoy several of the experiences they desire for their son."
He continued: "The truth is, self-identity can not be forced from the outside influences; it must be embraced, and it must come from within."
Buying Britishness
Of course, Britishness is something the expert believes can be taught – and marketed.
"I believe the situation that the world views us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
