"Parents located in the northern part of London wants to find an extraordinary and experienced instructor to assist their youngest child on his early path to turning into an English gentleman."
Looking at this post, you might naturally miss the term "first-steps" as mere an expression.
But, it could be the most important element of this unusual position posting, as it aims to find a teacher for a infant.
Numerous of responses have since been sent in since the anonymous family posted their search for the £180,000 per year tutor, who must be "someone very special".
In recent few weeks, the advert has received attention across the press, with numerous asking why?
Progressive Approach
Adam Caller, CEO and founder of an education consultancy, which is helping the family in their search, explained that in spite of early scepticism, he viewed the idea "forward-looking", and "advanced".
When he met the family, he mentioned they understood the atypical aspect of their demand, and how young their son is.
However, they clarified that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to get a tutor, as they had postponed until their firstborn was five, and by that age "cultural bias had already taken hold".
But what did the family refer to by "cultural leaning"?
It's "everything", he answered. "The manner you eat, the manner you speak".
He explained the firstborn had absorbed "very nuanced, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had assumed their cultural habits. The family informed the consultant they did not want the same situation to happen again with their new baby.
The intention: To hire a English tutor, who must speak with Received Pronunciation, to shape the baby from day one.
Natural Absorption
"A great deal of the development at the outset here is rather osmotic," stated the expert.
It's by means of this natural absorption that the family are hoping the child will adopt the English characteristics they wish to cultivate.
He explained the tutor needed to be an individual who attended "the appropriate educational institutions – similar types 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, simply by nature," he said.
Money No Object
The family told him the chosen tutor should preferably also have knowledge of or interest in equestrian activities, skiing, creative fields and musical activities so as to shape the child in a diverse set of passions.
Furthermore though, he said the family wanted the tutor to enrol the child on a range of courses so the child would be "pony-riding and learning an tool by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's perspective, helping their son grow into a "British gentleman" will bring about accomplishment and create opportunities.
"Considering the pros and cons of that, because it's definitely a social class indicator," he notes.
Yet, notwithstanding all this guidance in "UK identity", could the child absorb what is termed cultural influence from the globally influenced family he resides with anyway?
"Yes", said Adam. "The family realize this may not work, but they've merely embraced the view of, 'let's give it a go and let's go as quickly as we can', because the cost of it is irrelevant," he explained.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
Several in the education sector who have these reservations.
An education leader, head and founder of Blue Education, who provides individual instructors, stated that "the journey of becoming bicultural, or indeed, discovering oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not designed."
Peter explained that he had emigrated from Asia to the UK at the time of childhood, and had been raised understanding and embodying dual heritages. He continued to be educated at the University of Cambridge.
"The notion that a single person can function as a living vessel of UK identity, someone who can in some way transplant the characteristics of a UK sophisticate onto a one-year-old child, strikes me as optimistic and unrealistic," he commented.
"From my perspective, employing a quintessentially British tutor from babyhood will will not instantly achieve the goal they want.
"I wasn't provided with such a figure, and yet I have been fortunate enough to live numerous of the situations they aspire for their son."
He stated: "The fact is, self-identity cannot be dictated from the external environment; it must be embraced, and it must come from within."
Acquiring Englishness
Of course, English culture is something the expert thinks can be instructed – and marketed.
"I think the reality that the global community views us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
