"Parents located in North London is looking for an remarkable and skilled tutor to support their smallest child on his initial journey to growing into an British gentleman."
When reading this advertisement, you might naturally skip the term "first-steps" as just an expression.
However, it might be the most significant element of this unique position posting, as it seeks to recruit a tutor for a one-year-old.
Hundreds of applications have already been sent in since the unidentified family advertised their request for the £180k-a-year tutor, who needs to be "a uniquely qualified person".
Over the last few weeks, the listing has received attention throughout the media, with numerous asking why?
Forward-Thinking Method
Adam Caller, chief executive of Tutors International, which is supporting the family in their hunt, explained that in spite of first skepticism, he viewed the concept "visionary", and "progressive".
When he met the family, he said they appreciated the unconventional character of their request, and how immature their son is.
Nevertheless, they stated that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to get a tutor, as they had postponed until their older child was five, and by that stage "cultural influence had already taken hold".
What exactly does the family mean by "cultural bias"?
It's "everything", Adam answered. "The manner you eat, the way you speak".
He stated the elder child had absorbed "really subtle, body language" from the family, and had taken on their cultural norms. The family informed the consultant they did not want history to repeat itself with their infant.
The plan: To engage a UK tutor, who needs to speak with RP, to guide the baby from day one.
Osmotic Learning
"A great deal of the learning at the start here is somewhat absorbed naturally," stated Adam.
It's via this natural absorption that the family are aiming the child will acquire the British traits they want to impart.
He explained the tutor had to be someone who studied at "prestigious academies – comparable categories of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The tutor must be the right kind of person, they'll be doing things they don't even know they're doing, just naturally," he said.
Cost Not Relevant
The family informed him the selected educator should ideally also have familiarity of or enthusiasm in riding, alpine skiing, the arts and instrumental training so as to inspire the child in a diverse set of hobbies.
More than that though, he said the family wanted the tutor to register the child on a variety of courses so the child would be "equestrian training and picking up an instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's view, assisting their son become a "English gentleman" will result in success and provide access.
"Taking into account the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's definitely a status symbol," he adds.
But, in spite of all this tutelage in "English culture", would the child pick up so-called cultural bias from the multicultural family he is raised by anyway?
"Yes", answered the CEO. "The family understand this might not succeed, but they've just taken the perspective of, 'why not attempt it and let's go as quickly as we can', because the price of it is irrelevant," he said.
Impractical
Several in the tutoring industry who have similar concerns.
An education leader, head and founder of Blue Education, who supplies private tutors, commented that "the journey of embracing two identities, or indeed, becoming oneself, is something that must be lived into, not manufactured."
He noted that he had relocated from the Far East to the United Kingdom at the time of 7 years old, and had been brought up understanding and practicing dual heritages. He continued to learn at a prestigious UK institution.
"The concept that a single person can function as a representation of English culture, someone who can possibly transplant the qualities of a English gentleman to a one-year-old child, appears optimistic and unrealistic," he wrote.
"From my perspective, having a distinctly UK tutor from babyhood will does not instantly achieve the result they hope for.
"I never had such a tutor, and nevertheless I have been privileged enough to live numerous of the situations they hope for their son."
He stated: "The fact is, personal identity can not be forced from the outside; it must be embraced, and it must be internally driven."
Buying Britishness
Certainly, English culture is something the expert thinks can be instructed – and commercialized.
"I believe the reality that the international society views us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
