"A family based in the northern part of London is looking for an remarkable and qualified educator to guide their smallest child on his initial journey to growing into an British gentleman."
When reading this listing, you might easily skip the wording "first-steps" as just an expression.
However, it could be the crucial part of this unique job advert, as it attempts to find a tutor for a one-year-old.
Hundreds of responses have since been submitted since the anonymous family posted their request for the £180,000 per year tutor, who has to be "an exceptional individual".
In recent few weeks, the post has gained interest throughout the press, with several wondering why?
Progressive Approach
The CEO, head and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is assisting the family in their quest, said that despite early doubt, he considered the concept "forward-looking", and "advanced".
When he consulted the family, he noted they appreciated the atypical character of their requirement, and how immature their son is.
Nevertheless, they explained that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to get a tutor, as they had waited until their elder sibling was five, and by that point "cultural influence had already set in".
What exactly does the family refer to by "cultural leaning"?
It's "all-encompassing", the expert answered. "The way you eat, the way you speak".
He explained the elder child had absorbed "very nuanced, unspoken signals" from the family, and had adopted their cultural norms. The family told the consultant they hoped to prevent this pattern to happen again with their new baby.
The intention: To bring in a English tutor, who should speak with Received Pronunciation, to influence the baby right from the beginning.
Natural Absorption
"A great deal of the learning at the start here is kind of acquired indirectly," stated the CEO.
It's through this osmosis that the family are aiming the child will adopt the UK customs they wish to impart.
Adam said the tutor needed to be someone who went to "the appropriate educational institutions – the same kinds of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The instructor just has to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be performing things they may not realize they're doing, effortlessly," he said.
Cost Not Relevant
The family informed the expert the successful candidate should ideally also have knowledge of or interest in horse riding, skiing, creative fields and instrumental training so as to shape the child in a broad spectrum of interests.
Furthermore though, he explained the family desired the tutor to enrol the child on a selection of classes so the child would be "equestrian training and picking up an musical instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's minds, assisting their son grow into a "UK sophisticate" will lead to accomplishment and create opportunities.
"For all the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's undoubtedly a social class indicator," he adds.
Yet, notwithstanding all this guidance in "English culture", could the child adopt so-called cultural leaning from the international family he lives with anyway?
"Absolutely", said he. "The family realize this may not work, but they've just taken the attitude of, 'we should try and we'll proceed as quickly as we can', because the cost of it is irrelevant," he stated.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
There are some in the tutoring industry who express these doubts.
Another CEO, chief executive of an educational organization, who supplies personal educators, stated that "the process of adopting dual cultures, or in fact, discovering oneself, is something that must be lived into, not manufactured."
The expert explained that he had emigrated from Asia to the United Kingdom at the age of seven, and had been educated understanding and embodying two backgrounds. He went on to be educated at a prestigious UK institution.
"The concept that one individual can act as a living vessel of English culture, someone who can possibly transfer the qualities of a UK sophisticate to a infant child, seems to me optimistic and unfeasible," he commented.
"In my experience, engaging a distinctly English tutor from babyhood will not automatically produce the goal they desire.
"I wasn't provided with such a figure, and however I have been fortunate enough to live many of the experiences they hope for their son."
He added: "The truth is, cultural identity cannot be dictated from the outside; it must be selected, and it must originate internally."
Acquiring Englishness
Certainly, Britishness is something Adam hopes can be instructed – and commercialized.
"I think the reality that the global community views us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
