"A household residing in North London is looking for an remarkable and qualified tutor to guide their smallest child on his initial journey to turning into an British gentleman."
Upon seeing this listing, you might naturally overlook the wording "first-steps" as just figurative language.
Yet, it might be the crucial part of this unusual employment listing, as it aims to find a tutor for a one-year-old.
Many of submissions have now been submitted since the anonymous family posted their request for the £180,000 per year tutor, who has to be "someone very special".
In recent few weeks, the post has attracted notice in the news, with many wondering why?
Progressive Approach
Adam Caller, CEO and founder of an education consultancy, which is supporting the family in their search, explained that despite first doubt, he considered the concept "visionary", and "innovative".
When he spoke with the family, he said they understood the atypical aspect of their requirement, and how young their son is.
However, they stated that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to get a tutor, as they had postponed until their firstborn was five, and by that stage "cultural conditioning had already become established".
What precisely does the family mean by "cultural leaning"?
It's "everything", Adam replied. "The way you eat, the manner you speak".
He explained the firstborn had absorbed "very nuanced, body language" from the family, and had taken on their cultural ways. The family informed him they did not want the same situation to recur with their new baby.
The plan: To hire a English tutor, who should speak with standard English accent, to shape the baby right from the beginning.
Osmotic Learning
"A lot of the learning at the outset here is somewhat acquired indirectly," said the expert.
It's by means of this natural absorption that the family are aiming the child will pick up the English characteristics they aim to instil.
The consultant explained the tutor must be somebody who attended "prestigious academies – comparable categories of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The instructor must be the appropriate candidate, they'll be performing things they aren't even aware they're doing, effortlessly," he added.
Cost Not Relevant
The family informed Adam the chosen tutor should preferably also have understanding of or enthusiasm in equestrian activities, winter sports, creative fields and instrumental training so as to influence the child in a wide range of hobbies.
Furthermore though, he explained the family wanted the tutor to register the child on a variety of lessons so the child would be "horseback riding and learning an tool by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's view, helping their son develop into a "British gentleman" will result in achievement and open doors.
"For all the rights and wrongs of that, because it's definitely a status symbol," he comments.
Yet, notwithstanding all this guidance in "UK identity", could the child pick up so-called cultural leaning from the multicultural family he resides with regardless?
"Yes", replied Adam. "The parents know this could fail, but they've just taken the attitude of, 'we should try and let's go as soon as we can', because the cost of it is not a concern," he explained.
Overly Optimistic
A number of in the education sector who have similar concerns.
Peter Cui, head and founder of an educational organization, who provides individual instructors, commented that "the journey of becoming bicultural, or actually, discovering oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not engineered."
Peter noted that he had relocated from China to the UK at the time of 7 years old, and had been raised experiencing and living dual heritages. He progressed to study at a prestigious UK institution.
"The concept that a single person can serve as a representation of Britishness, someone who can somehow impart the attributes of a UK sophisticate onto a 12-month-old child, seems to me optimistic and unfeasible," he wrote.
"Based on my background, engaging a typically UK tutor from infancy will does not necessarily achieve the outcome they want.
"I never had such a figure, and nevertheless I have been lucky enough to experience several of the experiences they desire for their son."
He continued: "The truth is, self-identity can not be forced from the external environment; it must be selected, and it must come from within."
Acquiring Englishness
Certainly, English culture is something the CEO hopes can be educated – and marketed.
"I think the fact that the international society views us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
