"A family located in north London seeks an exceptional and skilled instructor to support their most junior child on his initial journey to becoming an British gentleman."
Upon seeing this listing, you might readily overlook the term "first-steps" as just an expression.
However, it may be the most significant part of this unique job advert, as it aims to find a teacher for a one-year-old.
Numerous of applications have already been submitted since the unnamed family posted their search for the £180k-a-year tutor, who must be "someone very special".
In recent few weeks, the listing has gained attention across the press, with many questioning why?
Progressive Approach
The CEO, head and founder of an education consultancy, which is supporting the family in their quest, explained that in spite of early doubt, he found the concept "far sighted", and "progressive".
When he consulted the family, he said they recognized the unusual aspect of their requirement, and how early in age their son is.
But, they explained that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to get a tutor, as they had waited until their firstborn was five, and by that age "cultural conditioning had by then become established".
But what did the family mean by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "comprehensive", the expert replied. "The manner you eat, the way you speak".
He said the firstborn had absorbed "extremely delicate, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had assumed their cultural habits. The family explained to the consultant they hoped to prevent history to repeat itself with their younger child.
The strategy: To hire a English tutor, who needs to speak with Received Pronunciation, to shape the baby from the very start.
Natural Absorption
"Much of the learning at the start here is rather acquired indirectly," said the expert.
It's by means of this natural absorption that the family are expecting the child will acquire the British traits they aim to impart.
He noted the tutor had to be an individual who attended "the right kinds of schools – the same kinds of schools as the family hope 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.
Cost Not Relevant
The family told the expert the chosen tutor should ideally also have familiarity of or interest in riding, winter sports, the arts and music so as to influence the child in a diverse set of hobbies.
Additionally though, he said the family hoped the tutor to enrol the child on a selection of lessons so the child would be "horseback riding and starting an musical instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's view, guiding their son become a "British gentleman" will bring about accomplishment and create opportunities.
"Taking into account the rights and wrongs of that, because it's undoubtedly a class statement," he notes.
However, notwithstanding all this instruction in "English culture", could the child adopt alleged cultural leaning from the international family he lives with in any case?
"Certainly", answered the CEO. "They realize this might not succeed, but they've merely embraced the perspective of, 'why not attempt it and we should start as soon as we can', because the cost of it is not relevant," he said.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
A number of in the tutoring industry who share similar doubts.
An education leader, chief executive of a tutoring service, who also offer private tutors, wrote that "the process of adopting dual cultures, or in fact, becoming oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not manufactured."
The expert noted that he had emigrated from Asia to the UK at the age of childhood, and had been educated understanding and living two backgrounds. He continued to study at a prestigious UK institution.
"The idea that an individual can serve as a living vessel of UK identity, a person who can possibly transfer the qualities of a UK sophisticate to a infant child, strikes me as naive and unfeasible," he wrote.
"Based on my background, having a typically British tutor from babyhood will not instantly achieve the goal they desire.
"I did not have such a figure, and nevertheless I have been privileged enough to live many of the experiences they aspire for their son."
He added: "The fact is, personal identity should not be dictated from the outside influences; it must be selected, and it must be internally driven."
Purchasing UK Culture
Of course, Britishness is something the CEO thinks can be educated – and commercialized.
"I believe the reality that the global community views us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
