"Parents based in north London is looking for an remarkable and qualified educator to guide their most junior child on his early path to turning into an English gentleman."
Looking at this post, you might naturally miss the wording "first-steps" as just an expression.
But, it may be the most significant aspect of this unusual job advert, as it seeks to hire a tutor for a one-year-old.
Numerous of responses have now been submitted since the unidentified family advertised their request for the £180k-a-year tutor, who must be "an exceptional individual".
In recent few weeks, the post has received attention in the news, with numerous asking why?
Progressive Approach
Adam Caller, CEO and founder of Tutors International, which is assisting the family in their search, explained that in spite of early scepticism, he viewed the plan "forward-looking", and "advanced".
When he met the family, he noted they recognized the atypical aspect of their demand, and how early in age their son is.
But, they clarified that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had waited until their elder sibling was five, and by that age "cultural bias had by then set in".
What exactly does the family indicate by "cultural bias"?
It's "everything", the expert replied. "The manner you eat, the manner you speak".
He said the older sibling had adopted "extremely delicate, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had taken on their cultural ways. The family informed Adam they hoped to prevent this pattern to happen again with their younger child.
The strategy: To bring in a British tutor, who must speak with Received Pronunciation, to guide the baby from the very start.
Subtle Influence
"A great deal of the development at the outset here is kind of osmotic," said Adam.
It's through this natural absorption that the family are expecting the child will acquire the English characteristics they wish to impart.
The consultant said the tutor must be an individual who attended "the appropriate educational institutions – similar types of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The educator simply needs to be the suitable individual, they'll be carrying out things they aren't even aware they're doing, simply by nature," he said.
Cost Not Relevant
The family explained to him the chosen tutor should ideally also have understanding of or enthusiasm in horse riding, skiing, the arts and musical activities so as to shape the child in a diverse set of hobbies.
Additionally though, he said the family hoped the tutor to sign up the child on a selection of classes so the child would be "pony-riding and picking up an musical instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's minds, guiding their son grow into a "British gentleman" will result in achievement and open doors.
"Taking into account the rights and wrongs of that, because it's undoubtedly a social class indicator," he notes.
Yet, in spite of all this tutelage in "English culture", would the child pick up alleged cultural leaning from the globally influenced family he resides with regardless?
"Yes", answered he. "They understand this could fail, but they've merely embraced the perspective of, 'we should try and let's go as soon as we can', because the expense of it is not relevant," he stated.
Impractical
There are some in the private teaching field who share these reservations.
Peter Cui, CEO and founder of an educational organization, who supplies private tutors, commented that "the process of adopting dual cultures, or in fact, becoming oneself, is something that must be grown into, not manufactured."
The expert wrote that he had relocated from the Far East to the Britain at the time of childhood, and had been educated knowing and embodying dual heritages. He continued to be educated at a prestigious UK institution.
"The notion that a single person can function as a representation of Britishness, someone who can in some way transplant the attributes of a English gentleman onto a 12-month-old child, strikes me as optimistic and unrealistic," he wrote.
"From my perspective, employing a typically British tutor from infancy will not necessarily achieve the outcome they hope for.
"I never had such a figure, and yet I have been fortunate enough to live numerous of the situations they hope for their son."
He stated: "The fact is, personal identity should not be forced from the outside; it must be selected, and it must come from within."
Purchasing UK Culture
Of course, English culture is something Adam thinks can be instructed – and commercialized.
"In my view the fact that the world regards us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
