"A family located in North London wants to find an exceptional and experienced educator to guide their smallest child on his initial journey to becoming an British gentleman."
When reading this advertisement, you might naturally skip the term "first-steps" as simple figurative language.
But, it might be the most important element of this unique position posting, as it seeks to hire a teacher for a 12-month-old.
Numerous of responses have now been submitted since the anonymous family posted their call for the £180,000 per year tutor, who needs to be "someone very special".
During the past few weeks, the advert has attracted interest across the news, with numerous wondering why?
Innovative Idea
A tutoring expert, head and founder of an education consultancy, which is assisting the family in their quest, explained that despite early scepticism, he found the idea "visionary", and "advanced".
When he spoke with the family, he noted they recognized the unconventional nature of their requirement, and how immature their son is.
But, they explained that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had held off until their firstborn was five, and by that stage "cultural bias had already become established".
What precisely did the family refer to by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "comprehensive", the expert answered. "The manner you eat, how you speak".
He said the older sibling had adopted "really subtle, body language" from the family, and had adopted their cultural norms. The family told the consultant they hoped to prevent the same situation to happen again with their younger child.
The plan: To bring in a English tutor, who must speak with RP, to guide the baby right from the beginning.
Osmotic Learning
"A lot of the learning at the outset here is rather osmotic," stated the expert.
It's by means of this natural absorption that the family are aiming the child will adopt the English characteristics they aim to cultivate.
He explained the tutor must be an individual who attended "the right kinds of schools – the same kinds of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The educator must be the suitable individual, they'll be doing things they may not realize they're doing, effortlessly," he said.
Expense Not a Factor
The family told the expert the chosen tutor should ideally also have understanding of or interest in equestrian activities, alpine skiing, artistic pursuits and musical activities so as to inspire the child in a diverse set of interests.
Furthermore though, he said the family wanted the tutor to enrol the child on a variety of lessons so the child would be "horseback riding and picking up an tool by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's minds, guiding their son become a "UK sophisticate" will result in success and provide access.
"Considering the rights and wrongs of that, because it's definitely a class statement," he adds.
However, despite all this instruction in "UK identity", would the child adopt alleged cultural influence from the multicultural family he resides with in any case?
"Yes", said Adam. "The parents realize this could fail, but they've simply adopted the attitude of, 'we should try and let's go as soon as we can', because the price of it is irrelevant," he stated.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
There are some in the tutoring industry who express those concerns.
An education leader, head and founder of an educational organization, who also offer personal educators, commented that "the journey of adopting dual cultures, or indeed, becoming oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not designed."
Peter wrote that he had relocated from Asia to the UK at the time of childhood, and had been raised experiencing and living two backgrounds. He went on to study at a prestigious UK institution.
"The concept that a single person can function as a representation of UK identity, a person who can in some way transfer the characteristics of a English gentleman onto a one-year-old child, strikes me as idealistic and impractical," he commented.
"In my experience, engaging a quintessentially British tutor from early childhood will not automatically create the result they desire.
"I never had that kind of mentor, and nevertheless I have been privileged enough to experience numerous of the opportunities they hope for their son."
He added: "The fact is, personal identity cannot be dictated from the external environment; it must be chosen, and it must originate internally."
Buying Britishness
Of course, Britishness is something the expert thinks can be taught – and marketed.
"In my view the fact that the international society regards us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
