"A household based in North London seeks an extraordinary and skilled tutor to guide their youngest child on his initial journey to growing into an English gentleman."
Looking at this advertisement, you might naturally miss the phrase "first-steps" as just an expression.
However, it may be the most significant aspect of this unique position posting, as it attempts to hire a teacher for a infant.
Many of submissions have since been sent in since the unnamed family advertised their call for the £180,000 per year tutor, who has to be "a uniquely qualified person".
Over the last few weeks, the post has received interest across the news, with several wondering why?
Innovative Idea
Adam Caller, CEO and founder of an education consultancy, which is assisting the family in their quest, explained that in spite of first doubt, he found the idea "forward-looking", and "innovative".
When he consulted the family, he mentioned they appreciated the unconventional character of their demand, and how young their son is.
But, they stated that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to get a tutor, as they had held off until their firstborn was five, and by that stage "cultural influence had already become established".
But what does the family indicate by "cultural bias"?
It's "comprehensive", the expert answered. "The way you eat, how you speak".
He stated the firstborn had absorbed "really subtle, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had taken on their cultural norms. The family told Adam they hoped to prevent this pattern to happen again with their new baby.
The strategy: To hire a British tutor, who should speak with standard English accent, to influence the baby from day one.
Natural Absorption
"A great deal of the development at the start here is kind of osmotic," stated the CEO.
It's by means of this natural absorption that the family are aiming the child will adopt the British traits they aim to instil.
He said the tutor needed to be an individual who attended "the appropriate educational institutions – similar types of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The instructor must be the suitable individual, they'll be carrying out things they aren't even aware they're doing, just naturally," he said.
Cost Not Relevant
The family told the expert the chosen tutor should ideally also have familiarity of or passion in riding, skiing, creative fields and instrumental training so as to influence the child in a wide range of interests.
Furthermore though, he explained the family desired the tutor to register the child on a selection of courses so the child would be "equestrian training and learning an tool by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's minds, guiding their son develop into a "UK sophisticate" will result in accomplishment and create opportunities.
"Considering the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's undoubtedly a social class indicator," he comments.
But, in spite of all this instruction in "English culture", might the child absorb what is termed cultural influence from the multicultural family he is raised by anyway?
"Certainly", answered the CEO. "The parents understand this might not succeed, but they've merely embraced the perspective of, 'we should try and let's go as soon as we can', because the cost of it is not relevant," he explained.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
Several in the tutoring industry who have similar reservations.
Another CEO, chief executive of a tutoring service, who supplies private tutors, stated that "the development of adopting dual cultures, or indeed, forming one's identity, is something that must be lived into, not manufactured."
Peter wrote that he had emigrated from the Far East to the United Kingdom at the period of childhood, and had been raised experiencing and living both cultures. He progressed to be educated at Cambridge University.
"The idea that an individual can act as a living vessel of UK identity, an individual who can in some way impart the characteristics of a UK sophisticate upon a infant child, strikes me as naive and unfeasible," he commented.
"In my experience, engaging a quintessentially English tutor from infancy will not necessarily achieve the outcome they desire.
"I never had that kind of mentor, and yet I have been privileged enough to live several of the experiences they aspire for their son."
He added: "The fact is, personal identity cannot be imposed from the outside influences; it must be selected, and it must originate internally."
Acquiring Englishness
Of course, English culture is something the expert hopes can be instructed – and commercialized.
"I believe the fact that the global community holds us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
