"A family based in the northern part of London wants to find an extraordinary and skilled tutor to guide their most junior child on his early path to growing into an British gentleman."
Upon seeing this advertisement, you might naturally skip the term "first-steps" as mere figurative language.
However, it may be the most important aspect of this unique employment listing, as it attempts to find a tutor for a infant.
Hundreds of applications have now been submitted since the anonymous family advertised their search for the £180k-a-year tutor, who must be "someone very special".
In recent few weeks, the post has gained notice throughout the news, with numerous wondering why?
Innovative Idea
Adam Caller, head and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is supporting the family in their quest, said that notwithstanding first scepticism, he found the idea "forward-looking", and "innovative".
When he consulted the family, he said they understood the atypical character of their requirement, and how young their son is.
Nevertheless, they explained that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to get a tutor, as they had held off until their older child was five, and by that point "cultural bias had already set in".
But what did the family refer to by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "all-encompassing", he responded. "The manner you eat, the way you speak".
He explained the firstborn had adopted "extremely delicate, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had assumed their cultural ways. The family told the consultant they did not want history to recur with their new baby.
The intention: To bring in a UK tutor, who needs to speak with standard English accent, to shape the baby right from the beginning.
Subtle Influence
"A great deal of the development at the outset here is somewhat osmotic," said the expert.
It's via this osmosis that the family are aiming the child will acquire the English characteristics they wish to impart.
He explained the tutor must be somebody who went to "the appropriate educational institutions – the same kinds of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The educator just has to be the right kind of person, they'll be doing things they may not realize they're doing, simply by nature," he said.
Money No Object
The family told him the chosen tutor should ideally also have knowledge of or passion in riding, skiing, creative fields and instrumental training so as to influence the child in a diverse set of hobbies.
Furthermore though, he stated the family desired the tutor to sign up the child on a range of classes so the child would be "pony-riding and learning an musical instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's view, helping their son grow into a "English gentleman" will result in accomplishment and provide access.
"Considering the pros and cons of that, because it's certainly a status symbol," he notes.
But, notwithstanding all this guidance in "Britishness", would the child adopt alleged cultural influence from the multicultural family he lives with in any case?
"Yes", said the CEO. "The parents realize this may not work, but they've merely embraced the perspective of, 'why not attempt it and we'll proceed as soon as we can', because the expense of it is not relevant," he explained.
Impractical
A number of in the private teaching field who have those doubts.
An education leader, chief executive of a tutoring service, who also offer personal educators, commented that "the development of becoming bicultural, or indeed, becoming oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not designed."
The expert explained that he had emigrated from the Far East to the UK at the age of childhood, and had been educated knowing and practicing two backgrounds. He progressed to learn at a prestigious UK institution.
"The notion that a single person can function as a embodiment of English culture, someone who can in some way transplant the attributes of a English gentleman upon a one-year-old child, appears optimistic and unfeasible," he stated.
"In my experience, engaging a typically British tutor from early childhood will does not instantly achieve the outcome they hope for.
"I never had such a tutor, and yet I have been lucky enough to enjoy numerous of the opportunities they aspire for their son."
He continued: "The truth is, personal identity should not be forced from the outside; it must be embraced, and it must originate internally."
Acquiring Englishness
Certainly, UK identity is something the expert hopes can be taught – and commercialized.
"I think the situation that the global community regards us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
