"Parents based in north London seeks an exceptional and skilled instructor to support their most junior child on his early path to growing into an English gentleman."
Looking at this post, you might naturally overlook the wording "first-steps" as simple an expression.
But, it might be the most important element of this unique employment listing, as it seeks to hire a tutor for a one-year-old.
Numerous of submissions have since been received since the unnamed family published their search for the £180,000 per year tutor, who has to be "an exceptional individual".
Over the last few weeks, the listing has received attention throughout the press, with many asking why?
Forward-Thinking Method
Adam Caller, chief executive of a global tutoring firm, which is supporting the family in their quest, stated that notwithstanding initial scepticism, he found the idea "far sighted", and "innovative".
When he consulted the family, he noted they recognized the unusual aspect of their requirement, and how young their son is.
But, they stated that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to get a tutor, as they had waited until their firstborn was five, and by that stage "cultural conditioning had by then taken hold".
What precisely does the family indicate by "cultural bias"?
It's "everything", he replied. "The manner you eat, the manner you speak".
He said the older sibling had picked up "really subtle, body language" from the family, and had assumed their cultural ways. The family explained to Adam they did not want history to recur with their infant.
The intention: To bring in a UK tutor, who must speak with standard English accent, to shape the baby from day one.
Osmotic Learning
"A lot of the education at the outset here is kind of absorbed naturally," said the CEO.
It's by means of this subtle influence that the family are expecting the child will adopt the English characteristics they wish to impart.
Adam explained the tutor needed to be someone who went to "the appropriate educational institutions – comparable categories of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The tutor simply needs to be the suitable individual, they'll be doing things they don't even know they're doing, just naturally," he said.
Money No Object
The family explained to him the successful candidate should preferably also have knowledge of or enthusiasm in horse riding, alpine skiing, the arts and instrumental training so as to inspire the child in a broad spectrum of interests.
More than that though, he explained the family hoped the tutor to enrol the child on a selection of courses so the child would be "pony-riding and learning an tool by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's minds, assisting their son develop into a "British gentleman" will result in success and provide access.
"For all the pros and cons of that, because it's certainly a social class indicator," he notes.
But, in spite of all this tutelage in "UK identity", would the child pick up what is termed cultural influence from the globally influenced family he resides with regardless?
"Yes", answered he. "They realize this could fail, but they've simply adopted the perspective of, 'we should try and we'll proceed as quickly as we can', because the expense of it is irrelevant," he said.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
Several in the tutoring industry who express these doubts.
Peter Cui, head and founder of Blue Education, who also offer individual instructors, commented that "the journey of becoming bicultural, or indeed, forming one's identity, is something that must be lived into, not designed."
Peter explained that he had emigrated from Asia to the UK at the time of seven, and had been educated understanding and embodying two backgrounds. He continued to learn at Cambridge University.
"The idea that one individual can serve as a living vessel of Britishness, an individual who can possibly impart the characteristics of a British gentleman to a one-year-old child, seems to me naive and unrealistic," he wrote.
"From my perspective, employing a typically UK tutor from infancy will not necessarily produce the goal they desire.
"I never had such a tutor, and yet I have been lucky enough to experience numerous of the experiences they aspire for their son."
He stated: "The reality is, personal identity should not be dictated from the outside influences; it must be chosen, and it must originate internally."
Acquiring Englishness
Naturally, Britishness is something Adam hopes can be educated – and sold.
"In my view the situation that the world holds us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
