"A family based in North London is looking for an remarkable and experienced instructor to support their youngest child on his early path to growing into an British gentleman."
Upon seeing this advertisement, you might naturally skip the wording "first-steps" as simple figurative language.
Yet, it might be the most important part of this unique job advert, as it attempts to hire a teacher for a one-year-old.
Numerous of responses have since been received since the anonymous family published their search for the £180k-a-year tutor, who needs to be "a uniquely qualified person".
During the past few weeks, the post has gained attention throughout the media, with several asking why?
Progressive Approach
Adam Caller, head and founder of an education consultancy, which is helping the family in their quest, stated that despite first scepticism, he viewed the concept "visionary", and "innovative".
When he met the family, he said they appreciated the unusual nature of their request, and how immature their son is.
However, they clarified that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had postponed until their older child was five, and by that point "cultural influence had already taken hold".
But what does the family mean by "cultural bias"?
It's "all-encompassing", he replied. "How you eat, the way you speak".
He explained the elder child had absorbed "very nuanced, unspoken signals" from the family, and had taken on their cultural ways. The family told the consultant they wished to avoid history to happen again with their younger child.
The strategy: To engage a English tutor, who must speak with Received Pronunciation, to guide the baby from day one.
Subtle Influence
"A great deal of the development at the start here is somewhat absorbed naturally," said Adam.
It's through this osmosis that the family are expecting the child will pick up the UK customs they wish to impart.
He explained the tutor had 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 right kind of person, they'll be performing things they don't even know they're doing, effortlessly," he said.
Money No Object
The family informed him the successful candidate should ideally also have familiarity of or interest in horse riding, winter sports, artistic pursuits and music so as to inspire the child in a broad spectrum of interests.
More than that though, he stated the family wanted the tutor to register the child on a variety of lessons so the child would be "pony-riding and starting an tool by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's view, assisting their son become a "UK sophisticate" will lead to success and open doors.
"Taking into account the pros and cons of that, because it's certainly a social class indicator," he notes.
Yet, in spite of all this instruction in "English culture", would the child adopt so-called cultural influence from the globally influenced family he lives with in any case?
"Certainly", said Adam. "The family understand this may not work, but they've simply adopted the view of, 'why not attempt it and let's go as quickly as we can', because the price of it is not a concern," he explained.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
A number of in the private teaching field who share similar concerns.
An education leader, chief executive of an educational organization, who also offer private tutors, commented that "the development of embracing two identities, or actually, discovering oneself, is something that must be lived into, not engineered."
The expert noted that he had emigrated from the Far East to the United Kingdom at the time of 7 years old, and had been brought up experiencing and practicing two backgrounds. He progressed to be educated at Cambridge University.
"The idea that a single person can act as a representation of Britishness, an individual who can somehow transfer the characteristics of a British gentleman to a 12-month-old child, seems to me naive and unfeasible," he stated.
"From my perspective, having a typically English tutor from babyhood will will not automatically produce the goal they desire.
"I did not have that kind of mentor, and yet I have been lucky enough to live several of the situations they desire for their son."
He stated: "The truth is, personal identity should not be forced from the external environment; it must be chosen, and it must come from within."
Acquiring Englishness
Of course, Britishness is something the CEO thinks can be educated – and commercialized.
"In my view the reality that the global community holds us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
