"Parents based in north London seeks an extraordinary and skilled instructor to support their smallest child on his early path to growing into an English gentleman."
When reading this post, you might naturally skip the term "first-steps" as just a turn of phrase.
Yet, it could be the most important aspect of this distinctive position posting, as it attempts to hire a tutor for a one-year-old.
Many of applications have already been submitted since the anonymous family advertised their search for the £180,000 per year tutor, who has to be "someone very special".
During the past few weeks, the listing has attracted interest in the news, with several asking why?
Progressive Approach
Adam Caller, head and founder of Tutors International, which is helping the family in their hunt, said that notwithstanding initial doubt, he found the idea "forward-looking", and "innovative".
When he met the family, he noted they appreciated the unconventional nature of their demand, and how immature their son is.
Nevertheless, they stated that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had held off until their older child was five, and by that stage "cultural influence had by then set in".
What precisely did the family refer to by "cultural bias"?
It's "everything", he replied. "The manner you eat, the manner you speak".
He stated the older sibling had picked up "extremely delicate, unspoken signals" from the family, and had taken on their cultural habits. The family explained to Adam they wished to avoid this pattern to repeat itself with their infant.
The intention: To hire a UK tutor, who must speak with RP, to guide the baby from day one.
Natural Absorption
"A great deal of the development at the beginning here is rather acquired indirectly," stated Adam.
It's via this osmosis that the family are aiming the child will acquire the British traits they wish to instil.
The consultant noted the tutor needed to be an individual who attended "the appropriate educational institutions – similar types of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The instructor must be the suitable individual, they'll be performing things they don't even know they're doing, just naturally," he added.
Cost Not Relevant
The family explained to Adam the chosen tutor should ideally also have familiarity of or passion in riding, skiing, the arts and music so as to shape the child in a wide range of hobbies.
Additionally though, he said the family wanted the tutor to sign up the child on a variety of courses so the child would be "horseback riding and picking up an tool by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's perspective, helping their son grow into a "UK sophisticate" will lead to success and create opportunities.
"For all the pros and cons of that, because it's definitely a social class indicator," he adds.
Yet, in spite of all this guidance in "English culture", could the child adopt so-called cultural leaning from the international family he is raised by in any case?
"Certainly", answered the CEO. "The parents realize this might not succeed, but they've just taken the view of, 'let's give it a go and let's go as soon as we can', because the cost of it is not relevant," he stated.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
There are some in the education sector who have similar reservations.
An education leader, CEO and founder of an educational organization, who also offer personal educators, stated that "the process of adopting dual cultures, or actually, becoming oneself, is something that must be lived into, not manufactured."
The expert noted that he had moved from China to the Britain at the time of childhood, and had been educated understanding and embodying two backgrounds. He continued to be educated at a prestigious UK institution.
"The notion that one individual can act as a representation of Britishness, an individual who can in some way transplant the attributes of a UK sophisticate to a 12-month-old child, strikes me as naive and unrealistic," he stated.
"From my perspective, having a quintessentially British tutor from early childhood will not instantly create the goal they desire.
"I never had such a figure, and yet I have been privileged enough to experience numerous of the opportunities they hope for their son."
He added: "The reality is, self-identity can not be imposed from the outside; it must be embraced, and it must be internally driven."
Acquiring Englishness
Certainly, Britishness is something the expert thinks can be educated – and commercialized.
"I think the fact that the international society regards us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
