"A family based in the northern part of London wants to find an extraordinary and skilled educator to assist their youngest child on his early path to becoming an British gentleman."
Upon seeing this advertisement, you might readily skip the term "first-steps" as just a turn of phrase.
However, it could be the crucial element of this distinctive job advert, as it seeks to find a teacher for a 12-month-old.
Many of applications have now been received since the unidentified family posted their request for the £180,000 per year tutor, who has to be "someone very special".
Over the last few weeks, the post has attracted attention in the press, with numerous wondering why?
Forward-Thinking Method
Adam Caller, CEO and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is assisting the family in their hunt, said that in spite of first scepticism, he found the plan "visionary", and "progressive".
When he met the family, he noted they understood the atypical aspect of their demand, and how young their son is.
Nevertheless, they stated that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to get a tutor, as they had waited until their elder sibling was five, and by that point "cultural conditioning had by then set in".
What precisely does the family indicate by "cultural bias"?
It's "everything", Adam answered. "The manner you eat, how you speak".
He said the firstborn had picked up "really subtle, unspoken signals" from the family, and had adopted their cultural habits. The family informed the consultant they hoped to prevent the same situation to happen again with their younger child.
The plan: To bring in a British tutor, who must speak with Received Pronunciation, to guide the baby from the very start.
Natural Absorption
"Much of the learning at the start here is kind of absorbed naturally," said Adam.
It's via this natural absorption that the family are aiming the child will pick up the English characteristics they want to instil.
The consultant explained the tutor needed to be someone who attended "the appropriate educational institutions – similar types of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The tutor must be the suitable individual, they'll be doing things they aren't even aware they're doing, effortlessly," he commented.
Expense Not a Factor
The family told the expert the successful candidate should ideally also have understanding of or interest in horse riding, alpine skiing, creative fields and music so as to shape the child in a diverse set of passions.
More than that though, he stated the family desired the tutor to sign up the child on a selection of courses so the child would be "horseback riding and picking up an musical instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's perspective, assisting their son become a "British gentleman" will result in success and open doors.
"For all the rights and wrongs of that, because it's undoubtedly a social class indicator," he comments.
Yet, despite all this instruction in "UK identity", might the child pick up alleged cultural bias from the globally influenced family he resides with in any case?
"Yes", answered the CEO. "The family understand this could fail, but they've simply adopted the attitude of, 'let's give it a go and we'll proceed as quickly as we can', because the price of it is not a concern," he explained.
Impractical
There are some in the tutoring industry who share similar concerns.
Another CEO, chief executive of an educational organization, who supplies individual instructors, stated that "the journey of adopting dual cultures, or in fact, forming one's identity, is something that must be experienced personally, not engineered."
Peter wrote that he had emigrated from China to the UK at the period of 7 years old, and had been educated experiencing and living dual heritages. He progressed to be educated at the University of Cambridge.
"The idea that an individual can serve as a embodiment of UK identity, an individual who can possibly impart the attributes of a British gentleman upon a 12-month-old child, appears idealistic and unrealistic," he wrote.
"From my perspective, engaging a typically English tutor from infancy will does not instantly produce the result they hope for.
"I never had such a figure, and yet I have been privileged enough to experience several of the experiences they aspire for their son."
He continued: "The reality is, self-identity can not be dictated from the external environment; it must be embraced, and it must be internally driven."
Purchasing UK Culture
Certainly, Britishness is something the expert hopes can be taught – and sold.
"I think the reality that the world holds us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
