"A household residing in North London wants to find an extraordinary and skilled instructor to assist their smallest child on his initial journey to becoming an British gentleman."
When reading this post, you might naturally miss the term "first-steps" as mere figurative language.
But, it might be the crucial part of this distinctive employment listing, as it attempts to recruit a tutor for a one-year-old.
Hundreds of applications have now been sent in since the anonymous family advertised their request for the highly paid tutor, who needs to be "an exceptional individual".
During the past few weeks, the advert has gained attention in the media, with numerous wondering why?
Progressive Approach
Adam Caller, chief executive of Tutors International, which is supporting the family in their search, stated that despite initial doubt, he considered the plan "visionary", and "progressive".
When he spoke with the family, he noted they recognized the unusual aspect of their demand, and how young their son is.
Nevertheless, they stated that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had waited until their elder sibling was five, and by that age "cultural bias had by then set in".
What exactly does the family refer to by "cultural bias"?
It's "everything", Adam responded. "The way you eat, the way you speak".
He explained the elder child had picked up "extremely delicate, unspoken signals" from the family, and had adopted their cultural norms. The family told him they hoped to prevent history to recur with their new baby.
The plan: To bring in a British tutor, who needs to speak with standard English accent, to guide the baby right from the beginning.
Osmotic Learning
"A lot of the development at the start here is somewhat acquired indirectly," explained the expert.
It's by means of this natural absorption that the family are hoping the child will acquire the British traits they want to cultivate.
The consultant explained the tutor must be somebody who went to "prestigious academies – comparable categories of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The instructor just has to be the right kind of person, they'll be performing things they don't even know they're doing, simply by nature," he commented.
Expense Not a Factor
The family told the expert the successful candidate should ideally also have familiarity of or passion in riding, winter sports, artistic pursuits and musical activities so as to shape the child in a wide range of hobbies.
Additionally though, he explained the family hoped the tutor to register the child on a selection of courses so the child would be "horseback riding and picking up an tool by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's minds, guiding their son become a "English gentleman" will result in accomplishment and create opportunities.
"For all the pros and cons of that, because it's certainly a social class indicator," he notes.
But, in spite of all this guidance in "Britishness", might the child absorb alleged cultural influence from the international family he resides with in any case?
"Certainly", said Adam. "The family understand this could fail, but they've simply adopted the attitude of, 'we should try and we'll proceed as early as we can', because the expense of it is irrelevant," he explained.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
A number of in the tutoring industry who share these reservations.
Peter Cui, chief executive of a tutoring service, who also offer private tutors, wrote that "the development of becoming bicultural, or indeed, becoming oneself, is something that must be lived into, not manufactured."
Peter noted that he had emigrated from the Far East to the UK at the age of childhood, and had been educated understanding and living two backgrounds. He went on to learn at the University of Cambridge.
"The idea that an individual can act as a representation of UK identity, an individual who can somehow impart the qualities of a English gentleman onto a one-year-old child, seems to me idealistic and unrealistic," he commented.
"Based on my background, employing a quintessentially UK tutor from infancy will will not instantly create the outcome they hope for.
"I never had such a tutor, and yet I have been lucky enough to enjoy several of the situations they hope for their son."
He stated: "The truth is, self-identity cannot be forced from the external environment; it must be chosen, and it must be internally driven."
Buying Britishness
Of course, Britishness is something the expert believes can be taught – and sold.
"I think the fact that the international society holds us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
