"A family based in north London is looking for an extraordinary and experienced tutor to guide their most junior child on his early path to turning into an English gentleman."
When reading this post, you might easily skip the term "first-steps" as just figurative language.
Yet, it could be the crucial part of this unusual job advert, as it seeks to hire a mentor for a 12-month-old.
Many of submissions have already been received since the unnamed family posted their request for the highly paid tutor, who must be "a uniquely qualified person".
During the past few weeks, the post has attracted interest across the press, with several asking why?
Progressive Approach
Adam Caller, CEO and founder of Tutors International, which is helping the family in their quest, explained that despite first skepticism, he viewed the idea "forward-looking", and "advanced".
When he consulted the family, he noted they understood the unconventional nature of their requirement, and how young their son is.
But, they clarified that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had held off until their older child was five, and by that stage "cultural bias had already become established".
But what does the family indicate by "cultural leaning"?
It's "everything", the expert responded. "The manner you eat, the way you speak".
He stated the firstborn had adopted "very nuanced, unspoken signals" from the family, and had adopted their cultural ways. The family explained to Adam they wished to avoid history to recur with their new baby.
The plan: To bring in a British tutor, who should speak with standard English accent, to shape the baby from the very start.
Subtle Influence
"A lot of the education at the start here is kind of acquired indirectly," stated the expert.
It's via this subtle influence that the family are expecting the child will pick up the UK customs they aim to impart.
The consultant said the tutor had to be an individual who studied at "the appropriate educational institutions – comparable categories of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The educator simply needs to be the suitable individual, they'll be performing things they don't even know they're doing, just naturally," he commented.
Cost Not Relevant
The family informed the expert the chosen tutor should ideally also have familiarity of or passion in riding, winter sports, creative fields and music so as to influence the child in a diverse set of passions.
More than that though, he stated the family hoped the tutor to sign up the child on a variety of courses so the child would be "equestrian training and picking up an instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's minds, guiding their son develop into a "British gentleman" will lead to accomplishment and provide access.
"Considering the pros and cons of that, because it's certainly a class statement," he comments.
However, in spite of all this tutelage in "Britishness", would the child pick up alleged cultural influence from the multicultural family he lives with anyway?
"Yes", replied he. "The family know this may not work, but they've simply adopted the attitude of, 'why not attempt it and let's go as quickly as we can', because the cost of it is irrelevant," he said.
Overly Optimistic
Several in the private teaching field who share these reservations.
Peter Cui, CEO and founder of Blue Education, who provides private tutors, wrote that "the development of becoming bicultural, or indeed, forming one's identity, is something that must be grown into, not engineered."
The expert explained that he had relocated from the Far East to the UK at the period of childhood, and had been raised understanding and practicing two backgrounds. He went on to be educated at Cambridge University.
"The idea that one individual can act as a representation of UK identity, an individual who can somehow transfer the qualities of a British gentleman upon a 12-month-old child, appears optimistic and impractical," he commented.
"In my experience, employing a distinctly British tutor from infancy will will not instantly produce the outcome they want.
"I never had such a tutor, and yet I have been privileged enough to live many of the situations they aspire for their son."
He stated: "The fact is, personal identity should not be dictated from the outside; it must be selected, and it must be internally driven."
Acquiring Englishness
Certainly, UK identity is something the CEO thinks can be taught – and marketed.
"I believe the situation that the world regards us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
