"A household residing in the northern part of London wants to find an remarkable and skilled tutor to assist their most junior child on his early path to growing into an English gentleman."
When reading this listing, you might naturally overlook the phrase "first-steps" as just an expression.
But, it might be the most significant aspect of this unusual position posting, as it aims to find a teacher for a one-year-old.
Hundreds of submissions have already been sent in since the unnamed family advertised their request for the £180,000 per year tutor, who needs to be "someone very special".
Over the last few weeks, the listing has received attention across the media, with several questioning why?
Innovative Idea
A tutoring expert, CEO and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is assisting the family in their hunt, explained that in spite of early doubt, he found the plan "forward-looking", and "progressive".
When he spoke with the family, he noted they understood the unusual nature of their requirement, and how immature their son is.
But, they clarified that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to get a tutor, as they had held off until their older child was five, and by that point "cultural bias had by then become established".
What precisely did the family refer to by "cultural leaning"?
It's "everything", he replied. "The manner you eat, the way you speak".
He said the firstborn had adopted "really subtle, unspoken signals" from the family, and had adopted their cultural habits. The family informed him they did not want this pattern to recur with their new baby.
The intention: To engage a English tutor, who needs to speak with standard English accent, to guide the baby right from the beginning.
Osmotic Learning
"A lot of the education at the outset here is rather acquired indirectly," said Adam.
It's by means of this osmosis that the family are aiming the child will pick up the British traits they want to cultivate.
Adam noted the tutor must be somebody who went to "the right kinds of schools – 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, effortlessly," he said.
Cost Not Relevant
The family informed the expert the successful candidate should preferably also have familiarity of or enthusiasm in riding, winter sports, the arts and instrumental training so as to shape the child in a diverse set of hobbies.
More than that though, he explained the family wanted the tutor to enrol the child on a selection of courses so the child would be "horseback riding and learning an musical instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's perspective, guiding their son develop into a "British gentleman" will bring about accomplishment and provide access.
"Taking into account the rights and wrongs of that, because it's certainly a class statement," he notes.
But, despite all this guidance in "UK identity", could the child pick up alleged cultural bias from the international family he resides with regardless?
"Yes", answered he. "The family understand this may not work, but they've merely embraced the attitude of, 'why not attempt it and let's go as soon as we can', because the cost of it is irrelevant," he explained.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
There are some in the tutoring industry who have similar doubts.
Peter Cui, head and founder of an educational organization, who supplies private tutors, stated that "the journey of becoming bicultural, or actually, discovering oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not engineered."
The expert wrote that he had relocated from Asia to the United Kingdom at the age of 7 years old, and had been brought up understanding and living two backgrounds. He progressed to learn at the University of Cambridge.
"The notion that one individual can act as a representation of Britishness, an individual who can somehow impart the characteristics of a English gentleman upon a one-year-old child, strikes me as idealistic and unfeasible," he wrote.
"From my perspective, having a typically English tutor from babyhood will does not necessarily produce the result they desire.
"I wasn't provided with that kind of mentor, and however I have been privileged enough to experience several of the experiences they desire for their son."
He stated: "The reality is, cultural identity can not be forced from the outside influences; it must be selected, and it must be internally driven."
Acquiring Englishness
Naturally, UK identity is something the expert believes can be taught – and marketed.
"In my view the fact that the global community holds us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
