"A family residing in north London wants to find an remarkable and experienced tutor to guide their smallest child on his early path to turning into an British gentleman."
Looking at this advertisement, you might naturally skip the term "first-steps" as simple an expression.
However, it might be the most important aspect of this unique employment listing, as it attempts to recruit a teacher for a 12-month-old.
Hundreds of applications have now been received since the unnamed family posted their search for the £180k-a-year tutor, who needs to be "a uniquely qualified person".
In recent few weeks, the listing has gained attention in the news, with many asking why?
Progressive Approach
The CEO, CEO and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is helping the family in their hunt, said that despite initial skepticism, he found the plan "far sighted", and "advanced".
When he met the family, he noted they appreciated the unusual nature of their demand, and how early in age their son is.
But, they clarified that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had waited until their older child was five, and by that age "cultural bias had already taken hold".
What exactly did the family mean by "cultural bias"?
It's "all-encompassing", the expert responded. "The manner you eat, the way you speak".
He said the elder child had picked up "very nuanced, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had adopted their cultural ways. The family told Adam they wished to avoid this pattern to recur with their new baby.
The strategy: To engage a UK tutor, who needs to speak with Received Pronunciation, to guide the baby from day one.
Natural Absorption
"A lot of the education at the outset here is kind of absorbed naturally," stated the CEO.
It's via this subtle influence that the family are aiming the child will acquire the English characteristics they wish to cultivate.
He explained the tutor had to be an individual who went to "the appropriate educational institutions – similar types of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The instructor simply needs to be the suitable individual, they'll be performing things they aren't even aware they're doing, simply by nature," he commented.
Expense Not a Factor
The family told Adam the chosen tutor should ideally also have understanding of or enthusiasm in horse riding, alpine skiing, artistic pursuits and instrumental training so as to shape the child in a diverse set of passions.
Additionally though, he explained the family wanted the tutor to enrol the child on a range of lessons so the child would be "horseback riding and learning an instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's minds, helping their son become a "UK sophisticate" will bring about success and open doors.
"For all the rights and wrongs of that, because it's certainly a status symbol," he adds.
Yet, despite all this tutelage in "English culture", might the child absorb so-called cultural influence from the multicultural family he is raised by anyway?
"Yes", replied the CEO. "The family know this might not succeed, but they've just taken the perspective of, 'why not attempt it and we'll proceed as soon as we can', because the cost of it is not a concern," he said.
Overly Optimistic
A number of in the tutoring industry who express similar concerns.
An education leader, CEO and founder of Blue Education, who provides individual instructors, stated that "the development of adopting dual cultures, or indeed, forming one's identity, is something that must be grown into, not manufactured."
He explained that he had moved from the Far East to the United Kingdom at the time of childhood, and had been educated understanding and practicing two backgrounds. He went on to study at Cambridge University.
"The notion that a single person can act as a living vessel of UK identity, someone who can possibly transfer the qualities of a British gentleman onto a 12-month-old child, seems to me idealistic and impractical," he wrote.
"From my perspective, employing a typically UK tutor from infancy will does not automatically create the goal they want.
"I did not have such a tutor, and nevertheless I have been lucky enough to experience several of the opportunities they desire for their son."
He added: "The truth is, personal identity should not be imposed from the external environment; it must be embraced, and it must be internally driven."
Buying Britishness
Naturally, UK identity is something the CEO hopes can be taught – and sold.
"I believe the situation that the world views us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
