"A household residing in the northern part of London is looking for an remarkable and skilled educator to assist their most junior child on his initial journey to turning into an English gentleman."
When reading this post, you might easily skip the term "first-steps" as just a turn of phrase.
But, it could be the most important element of this unique employment listing, as it seeks to find a tutor for a 12-month-old.
Numerous of submissions have already been sent in since the anonymous family published their call for the highly paid tutor, who has to be "someone very special".
Over the last few weeks, the post has attracted attention throughout the news, with many questioning why?
Innovative Idea
Adam Caller, chief executive of Tutors International, which is assisting the family in their search, stated that notwithstanding early skepticism, he viewed the plan "visionary", and "advanced".
When he met the family, he noted they appreciated the atypical aspect of their requirement, and how young their son is.
However, they clarified that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had waited until their firstborn was five, and by that stage "cultural conditioning had already taken hold".
But what does the family indicate by "cultural bias"?
It's "comprehensive", the expert replied. "How you eat, the manner you speak".
He said the older sibling had adopted "extremely delicate, unspoken signals" from the family, and had adopted their cultural habits. The family told the consultant they wished to avoid history to happen again with their infant.
The intention: To hire a British tutor, who should speak with standard English accent, to influence the baby right from the beginning.
Osmotic Learning
"Much of the education at the beginning here is somewhat osmotic," said Adam.
It's by means of this natural absorption that the family are expecting the child will pick up the UK customs they want to impart.
He explained the tutor must be someone who went to "the appropriate educational institutions – the same kinds 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 carrying out things they don't even know they're doing, simply by nature," he commented.
Cost Not Relevant
The family explained to Adam the chosen tutor should ideally also have understanding of or passion in riding, skiing, artistic pursuits and musical activities so as to shape the child in a wide range of hobbies.
Additionally though, he said the family wanted the tutor to register the child on a selection of classes so the child would be "horseback riding and starting an musical instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's view, helping their son become a "UK sophisticate" will lead to accomplishment and provide access.
"Taking into account the rights and wrongs of that, because it's certainly a social class indicator," he notes.
However, in spite of all this guidance in "UK identity", would the child absorb what is termed cultural influence from the international family he is raised by in any case?
"Certainly", said Adam. "The family understand this might not succeed, but they've just taken the view of, 'we should try and we'll proceed as quickly as we can', because the expense of it is not relevant," he stated.
Impractical
There are some in the tutoring industry who have those concerns.
Peter Cui, head and founder of Blue Education, who provides personal educators, wrote that "the development of adopting dual cultures, or actually, becoming oneself, is something that must be lived into, not manufactured."
He wrote that he had moved from the Far East to the United Kingdom at the time of childhood, and had been brought up understanding and living two backgrounds. He went on to learn at a prestigious UK institution.
"The notion that an individual can serve as a living vessel of UK identity, someone who can possibly impart the attributes of a British gentleman upon a one-year-old child, appears optimistic and unrealistic," he commented.
"Based on my background, employing a quintessentially UK tutor from infancy will will not automatically produce the goal they want.
"I did not have such a tutor, and however I have been lucky enough to enjoy numerous of the experiences they aspire for their son."
He continued: "The truth is, cultural identity should not be dictated from the outside influences; it must be selected, and it must originate internally."
Purchasing UK Culture
Certainly, English culture is something the expert hopes can be instructed – and sold.
"I believe the fact that the international society holds us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
