"A household residing in North London is looking for an exceptional and experienced educator to guide their youngest child on his early path to turning into an English gentleman."
When reading this post, you might naturally skip the term "first-steps" as mere a turn of phrase.
However, it may be the crucial part of this distinctive position posting, as it seeks to recruit a tutor for a 12-month-old.
Many of applications have now been submitted since the anonymous family published their request for the highly paid tutor, who needs to be "an exceptional individual".
In recent few weeks, the advert has gained notice throughout the media, with many questioning why?
Progressive Approach
The CEO, head and founder of Tutors International, which is helping the family in their search, stated that notwithstanding first skepticism, he considered the concept "forward-looking", and "progressive".
When he met the family, he said they appreciated the atypical nature of their request, and how young their son is.
Nevertheless, they stated that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had postponed until their older child was five, and by that point "cultural influence had by then set in".
What precisely does the family mean by "cultural bias"?
It's "all-encompassing", Adam responded. "The way you eat, the manner you speak".
He stated the older sibling had picked up "extremely delicate, body language" from the family, and had adopted their cultural norms. The family informed Adam they did not want the same situation to recur with their new baby.
The plan: To bring in a UK tutor, who must speak with Received Pronunciation, to influence the baby from day one.
Osmotic Learning
"A lot of the education at the beginning here is somewhat absorbed naturally," stated Adam.
It's by means of this osmosis that the family are expecting the child will adopt the English characteristics they wish to instil.
The consultant said the tutor had to be someone who went to "the appropriate educational institutions – similar types of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The instructor just has to be the suitable individual, they'll be doing things they aren't even aware they're doing, just naturally," he commented.
Cost Not Relevant
The family informed him the chosen tutor should ideally also have knowledge of or enthusiasm in riding, alpine skiing, artistic pursuits and music so as to inspire the child in a diverse set of interests.
More than that though, he stated the family wanted the tutor to enrol the child on a range of lessons so the child would be "pony-riding and learning an tool by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's minds, helping their son become a "British gentleman" will bring about achievement and open doors.
"For all the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's undoubtedly a class statement," he adds.
Yet, despite all this guidance in "UK identity", might the child absorb alleged cultural bias from the multicultural family he resides with in any case?
"Absolutely", replied he. "The family know this may not work, but they've simply adopted the view of, 'let's give it a go and we should start as quickly as we can', because the price of it is not relevant," he said.
Impractical
A number of in the tutoring industry who express similar reservations.
An education leader, CEO and founder of Blue Education, who supplies personal educators, wrote that "the development of embracing two identities, or actually, becoming oneself, is something that must be lived into, not engineered."
He wrote that he had moved from the Far East to the United Kingdom at the period of seven, and had been educated knowing and practicing two backgrounds. He went on to be educated at Cambridge University.
"The notion that one individual can function as a living vessel of UK identity, an individual who can somehow transplant the characteristics of a UK sophisticate onto a infant child, appears naive and impractical," he wrote.
"Based on my background, engaging a distinctly English tutor from early childhood will will not necessarily produce the outcome they desire.
"I wasn't provided with such a figure, and nevertheless I have been privileged enough to enjoy many of the experiences they aspire for their son."
He continued: "The reality is, cultural identity cannot be forced from the outside influences; it must be chosen, and it must come from within."
Acquiring Englishness
Naturally, Britishness is something the CEO thinks can be educated – and sold.
"In my view the fact that the world holds us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
