"Parents based in the northern part of London is looking for an extraordinary and qualified instructor to assist their most junior child on his early path to growing into an English gentleman."
When reading this listing, you might easily skip the term "first-steps" as mere an expression.
Yet, it might be the crucial element of this unusual employment listing, as it attempts to find a teacher for a 12-month-old.
Many of submissions have already been submitted since the unnamed family advertised their request for the £180k-a-year tutor, who must be "someone very special".
Over the last few weeks, the post has received notice across the media, with numerous questioning why?
Progressive Approach
Adam Caller, CEO and founder of Tutors International, which is helping the family in their search, stated that in spite of early skepticism, he considered the plan "visionary", and "progressive".
When he met the family, he said they understood the unusual nature of their requirement, and how immature their son is.
However, they stated that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to get a tutor, as they had held off until their firstborn was five, and by that stage "cultural bias had already set in".
What precisely did the family mean by "cultural bias"?
It's "everything", the expert answered. "The way you eat, the manner you speak".
He explained the firstborn had adopted "really subtle, unspoken signals" from the family, and had taken on their cultural norms. The family told him they hoped to prevent the same situation to happen again with their new baby.
The plan: To bring in a UK tutor, who should speak with RP, to influence the baby from the very start.
Subtle Influence
"A great deal of the development at the beginning here is rather osmotic," explained the CEO.
It's through this osmosis that the family are aiming the child will adopt the UK customs they want to cultivate.
The consultant said the tutor needed to be somebody who went to "the right kinds of schools – comparable categories of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The educator must be the suitable individual, they'll be performing things they don't even know they're doing, simply by nature," he said.
Cost Not Relevant
The family informed the expert the chosen tutor should ideally also have understanding of or interest in riding, skiing, artistic pursuits and instrumental training so as to influence the child in a broad spectrum of interests.
More than that though, he said the family wanted the tutor to sign up the child on a range of classes so the child would be "horseback riding and learning an tool by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's view, guiding their son grow into a "British gentleman" will lead to accomplishment and open doors.
"Taking into account the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's certainly a class statement," he notes.
But, notwithstanding all this instruction in "Britishness", could the child absorb what is termed cultural influence from the globally influenced family he resides with in any case?
"Certainly", said Adam. "They know this could fail, but they've merely embraced the attitude of, 'we should try and we'll proceed as soon as we can', because the cost of it is irrelevant," he stated.
Overly Optimistic
Several in the tutoring industry who have similar doubts.
Another CEO, head and founder of Blue Education, who provides personal educators, commented that "the development of becoming bicultural, or indeed, discovering oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not designed."
He explained that he had emigrated from China to the United Kingdom at the period of seven, and had been educated understanding and living two backgrounds. He continued to study at Cambridge University.
"The concept that a single person can act as a representation of English culture, a person who can possibly transfer the characteristics of a British gentleman upon a one-year-old child, strikes me as naive and impractical," he commented.
"Based on my background, employing a quintessentially UK tutor from babyhood will does not instantly achieve the outcome they desire.
"I did not have such a figure, and however I have been privileged enough to experience many of the opportunities they desire for their son."
He added: "The reality is, cultural identity should not be imposed from the outside; it must be selected, and it must come from within."
Acquiring Englishness
Certainly, Britishness is something Adam believes can be instructed – and sold.
"In my view the fact that the world holds us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
