"Parents residing in the northern part of London is looking for an exceptional and experienced tutor to guide their youngest child on his early path to growing into an British gentleman."
Looking at this listing, you might easily skip the wording "first-steps" as mere an expression.
But, it might be the most important element of this unique position posting, as it aims to hire a teacher for a infant.
Many of applications have already been received since the unnamed family advertised their search for the £180,000 per year tutor, who has to be "an exceptional individual".
During the past few weeks, the post has gained interest throughout the news, with several asking why?
Progressive Approach
The CEO, head and founder of an education consultancy, which is supporting the family in their quest, said that notwithstanding early skepticism, he found the concept "forward-looking", and "innovative".
When he consulted the family, he noted they understood the atypical aspect of their request, and how young their son is.
But, they explained that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to get a tutor, as they had held off until their older child was five, and by that point "cultural bias had already become established".
What exactly did the family indicate by "cultural bias"?
It's "everything", he replied. "How you eat, how you speak".
He stated the older sibling had absorbed "really subtle, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had adopted their cultural habits. The family explained to him they wished to avoid history to happen again with their new baby.
The intention: To hire a British tutor, who needs to speak with RP, to guide the baby right from the beginning.
Subtle Influence
"Much of the development at the beginning here is rather absorbed naturally," said Adam.
It's by means of this osmosis that the family are hoping the child will adopt the UK customs they wish to cultivate.
Adam explained the tutor needed to be someone who attended "the right kinds of schools – the same kinds of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The educator must be the right kind of person, they'll be performing things they don't even know they're doing, just naturally," he said.
Money No Object
The family informed the expert the selected educator should ideally also have familiarity of or interest in riding, skiing, artistic pursuits and instrumental training so as to influence the child in a wide range of hobbies.
More than that though, he explained the family hoped the tutor to sign up the child on a range of courses so the child would be "horseback riding and learning an tool by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's perspective, assisting their son become a "British gentleman" will bring about accomplishment and open doors.
"Considering the rights and wrongs of that, because it's certainly a class statement," he notes.
But, despite all this tutelage in "Britishness", would the child absorb alleged cultural leaning from the multicultural family he resides with anyway?
"Yes", replied the CEO. "The parents know this could fail, but they've merely embraced the view of, 'we should try and let's go as early as we can', because the price of it is not relevant," he said.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
There are some in the private teaching field who share these reservations.
An education leader, head and founder of a tutoring service, who provides personal educators, wrote that "the process of adopting dual cultures, or actually, forming one's identity, is something that must be experienced personally, not designed."
Peter explained that he had emigrated from Asia to the UK at the time of seven, and had been educated understanding and living both cultures. He went on to study at Cambridge University.
"The notion that an individual can function as a living vessel of UK identity, a person who can possibly transfer the attributes of a British gentleman onto a 12-month-old child, appears naive and unfeasible," he wrote.
"From my perspective, engaging a typically UK tutor from early childhood will will not automatically achieve the outcome they hope for.
"I wasn't provided with that kind of mentor, and nevertheless I have been lucky enough to live several of the opportunities they aspire for their son."
He added: "The fact is, self-identity cannot be dictated from the outside; it must be embraced, and it must be internally driven."
Purchasing UK Culture
Naturally, Britishness is something the CEO hopes can be taught – and commercialized.
"I believe the fact that the international society holds us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
