"A family based in the northern part of London is looking for an exceptional and experienced tutor to support their smallest child on his initial journey to becoming an English gentleman."
When reading this listing, you might easily miss the wording "first-steps" as simple an expression.
But, it may be the crucial part of this unique job advert, as it attempts to find a teacher for a infant.
Hundreds of applications have already been submitted since the unnamed family advertised their search for the £180k-a-year tutor, who needs to be "an exceptional individual".
In recent few weeks, the post has gained notice across the media, with numerous asking why?
Innovative Idea
A tutoring expert, chief executive of an education consultancy, which is helping the family in their quest, explained that despite initial doubt, he considered the idea "far sighted", and "progressive".
When he consulted the family, he mentioned they recognized the unconventional nature of their demand, and how early in age their son is.
But, 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 point "cultural conditioning had already taken hold".
But what does the family indicate by "cultural bias"?
It's "comprehensive", he answered. "The manner you eat, the way you speak".
He said the firstborn had adopted "very nuanced, unspoken signals" from the family, and had taken on their cultural habits. The family told Adam they hoped to prevent this pattern to repeat itself with their younger child.
The strategy: To bring in a UK tutor, who must speak with RP, to shape the baby right from the beginning.
Natural Absorption
"A great deal of the education at the outset here is rather absorbed naturally," stated the expert.
It's via this osmosis that the family are aiming the child will adopt the British traits they aim to impart.
He said the tutor had to be an individual who attended "the right kinds of schools – the same kinds of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The educator just has to be the right kind of person, they'll be carrying out things they don't even know they're doing, just naturally," he commented.
Expense Not a Factor
The family explained to Adam the selected educator should preferably also have knowledge of or enthusiasm in equestrian activities, alpine skiing, creative fields and music so as to influence the child in a broad spectrum of interests.
More than that though, he explained the family desired the tutor to sign up the child on a variety of lessons so the child would be "pony-riding and starting an musical instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's minds, assisting their son develop into a "UK sophisticate" will lead to achievement and provide access.
"For all the pros and cons of that, because it's certainly a class statement," he comments.
But, in spite of all this tutelage in "English culture", could the child pick up so-called cultural bias from the international family he is raised by regardless?
"Absolutely", answered he. "The family understand this may not work, but they've simply adopted the view of, 'we should try and we'll proceed as early as we can', because the cost of it is not relevant," he said.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
There are some in the education sector who share similar doubts.
Another CEO, head and founder of Blue Education, who also offer private tutors, wrote that "the process of adopting dual cultures, or actually, becoming oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not manufactured."
The expert noted that he had relocated from Asia to the Britain at the age of childhood, and had been brought up experiencing and living two backgrounds. He went on to study at Cambridge University.
"The notion that an individual can function as a representation of English culture, an individual who can possibly impart the characteristics of a British gentleman to a 12-month-old child, strikes me as naive and impractical," he wrote.
"In my experience, employing a quintessentially British tutor from early childhood will not instantly produce the goal they desire.
"I never had such a figure, and nevertheless I have been lucky enough to enjoy many of the opportunities they desire for their son."
He added: "The fact is, self-identity can not be forced from the outside; it must be chosen, and it must be internally driven."
Buying Britishness
Certainly, Britishness is something the expert thinks can be taught – and commercialized.
"I believe the fact that the global community holds us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
