"A family based in North London seeks an remarkable and skilled tutor to guide their most junior child on his initial journey to becoming an British gentleman."
Looking at this advertisement, you might naturally overlook the term "first-steps" as just an expression.
But, it may be the most significant part of this unique position posting, as it seeks to recruit a teacher for a 12-month-old.
Many of responses have already been sent in since the anonymous family advertised their search for the £180,000 per year tutor, who needs to be "an exceptional individual".
Over the last few weeks, the listing has received interest in the press, with several wondering why?
Progressive Approach
The CEO, chief executive of an education consultancy, which is assisting the family in their search, said that despite early skepticism, he considered the idea "forward-looking", and "progressive".
When he spoke with the family, he mentioned they understood the atypical character of their requirement, and how immature their son is.
Nevertheless, they stated that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had waited until their older child was five, and by that age "cultural influence had already set in".
What precisely does the family refer to by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "everything", he responded. "How you eat, the way you speak".
He stated the elder child had absorbed "extremely delicate, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had taken on their cultural norms. The family explained to Adam they wished to avoid history to recur with their infant.
The plan: To engage a British tutor, who should speak with Received Pronunciation, to shape the baby from day one.
Natural Absorption
"Much of the education at the outset here is kind of acquired indirectly," stated the expert.
It's by means of this natural absorption that the family are hoping the child will adopt the English characteristics they want to cultivate.
He said the tutor had to be somebody who attended "the appropriate educational institutions – similar types of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The tutor just has to be the suitable individual, they'll be carrying out things they aren't even aware they're doing, simply by nature," he commented.
Expense Not a Factor
The family explained to the expert the selected educator should ideally also have familiarity of or enthusiasm in equestrian activities, alpine skiing, the arts and musical activities so as to influence the child in a wide range of passions.
More than that though, he explained the family hoped the tutor to register the child on a selection of courses so the child would be "pony-riding and picking up an instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's minds, guiding their son develop into a "English gentleman" will bring about accomplishment and provide access.
"For all the rights and wrongs of that, because it's undoubtedly a status symbol," he comments.
But, in spite of all this instruction in "Britishness", might the child adopt alleged cultural leaning from the multicultural family he resides with regardless?
"Yes", replied the CEO. "They know this may not work, but they've merely embraced the perspective of, 'let's give it a go and we'll proceed as soon as we can', because the expense of it is not relevant," he stated.
Impractical
There are some in the education sector who have those concerns.
An education leader, head and founder of an educational organization, who also offer private tutors, wrote that "the journey of becoming bicultural, or actually, forming one's identity, is something that must be lived into, not manufactured."
Peter explained that he had relocated from China to the UK at the time of 7 years old, and had been educated understanding and practicing dual heritages. He progressed to study at the University of Cambridge.
"The idea that an individual can act as a representation of UK identity, a person who can somehow transplant the qualities of a UK sophisticate onto a 12-month-old child, seems to me optimistic and unfeasible," he commented.
"In my experience, engaging a typically UK tutor from babyhood will will not necessarily produce the outcome they hope for.
"I wasn't provided with such a tutor, and yet I have been privileged enough to live several of the situations they aspire for their son."
He added: "The truth is, personal identity should not be dictated from the outside influences; it must be chosen, and it must be internally driven."
Buying Britishness
Naturally, UK identity is something the expert thinks can be educated – and marketed.
"In my view the reality that the world views us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
