"Parents located in the northern part of London is looking for an remarkable and qualified instructor to support their most junior child on his early path to becoming an British gentleman."
Looking at this post, you might naturally overlook the term "first-steps" as just figurative language.
However, it may be the most important part of this unique job advert, as it attempts to find a tutor for a infant.
Numerous of submissions have already been submitted since the unnamed family posted their request for the £180k-a-year tutor, who must be "someone very special".
Over the last few weeks, the post has gained attention throughout the news, with many wondering why?
Forward-Thinking Method
Adam Caller, chief executive of an education consultancy, which is assisting the family in their quest, explained that notwithstanding initial scepticism, he considered the plan "far sighted", and "innovative".
When he consulted the family, he mentioned they appreciated the atypical character of their requirement, and how young their son is.
But, they clarified that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to get a tutor, as they had postponed until their older child was five, and by that point "cultural conditioning had already become established".
What precisely did the family indicate by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "everything", Adam responded. "How you eat, the way you speak".
He explained the firstborn had picked up "extremely delicate, unspoken signals" from the family, and had taken on their cultural ways. The family told Adam they wished to avoid history to repeat itself with their younger child.
The plan: To bring in a English tutor, who needs to speak with RP, to shape the baby right from the beginning.
Natural Absorption
"Much of the learning at the start here is somewhat acquired indirectly," stated the CEO.
It's via this subtle influence that the family are aiming the child will adopt the British traits they want to cultivate.
He noted the tutor needed to be an individual who went to "the right kinds of schools – similar types of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The instructor just has to be the right kind of person, they'll be doing things they aren't even aware they're doing, just naturally," he commented.
Cost Not Relevant
The family told him the chosen tutor should preferably also have knowledge of or passion in horse riding, winter sports, artistic pursuits and musical activities so as to influence the child in a diverse set of interests.
More than that though, he stated the family wanted the tutor to sign up the child on a range of lessons so the child would be "pony-riding and picking up an musical instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's view, helping their son become a "English gentleman" will result in success and create opportunities.
"Considering the rights and wrongs of that, because it's definitely a class statement," he adds.
But, in spite of all this instruction in "UK identity", might the child adopt alleged cultural bias from the globally influenced family he lives with anyway?
"Certainly", answered Adam. "They realize this might not succeed, but they've merely embraced the perspective of, 'why not attempt it and let's go as quickly as we can', because the cost of it is not a concern," he said.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
Several in the tutoring industry who have those reservations.
Another CEO, head and founder of an educational organization, who provides private tutors, wrote that "the journey of becoming bicultural, or in fact, becoming oneself, is something that must be grown into, not engineered."
He wrote that he had emigrated from the Far East to the United Kingdom at the period of 7 years old, and had been brought up understanding and living both cultures. He went on to learn at the University of Cambridge.
"The concept that an individual can function as a embodiment of UK identity, someone who can possibly transfer the attributes of a English gentleman upon a one-year-old child, seems to me optimistic and unrealistic," he wrote.
"Based on my background, engaging a quintessentially UK tutor from babyhood will does not automatically produce the result they desire.
"I wasn't provided with such a figure, and however I have been fortunate enough to experience several of the opportunities they desire for their son."
He added: "The truth is, self-identity can not be imposed from the external environment; it must be chosen, and it must be internally driven."
Purchasing UK Culture
Certainly, English culture is something Adam hopes can be educated – and marketed.
"In my view the situation that the global community views us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
