"A family located in North London is looking for an remarkable and qualified tutor to guide their youngest child on his early path to growing into an English gentleman."
When reading this advertisement, you might naturally overlook the wording "first-steps" as mere an expression.
But, it could be the crucial part of this unusual position posting, as it seeks to hire a mentor for a one-year-old.
Many of submissions have since been submitted since the unidentified family published their call for the £180,000 per year tutor, who needs to be "a uniquely qualified person".
Over the last few weeks, the post has attracted notice across the media, with many questioning why?
Forward-Thinking Method
The CEO, CEO and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is helping the family in their quest, explained that in spite of first skepticism, he found the concept "visionary", and "progressive".
When he consulted the family, he mentioned they understood the atypical nature of their request, and how young their son is.
But, they stated that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had waited until their older child was five, and by that age "cultural influence had already set in".
What precisely does the family mean by "cultural leaning"?
It's "everything", he answered. "How you eat, how you speak".
He explained the older sibling had adopted "extremely delicate, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had adopted their cultural habits. The family informed the consultant they did not want this pattern to repeat itself with their younger child.
The strategy: To engage a UK tutor, who needs to speak with Received Pronunciation, to shape the baby from day one.
Subtle Influence
"Much of the development at the outset here is somewhat absorbed naturally," explained the expert.
It's by means of this osmosis that the family are aiming the child will adopt the UK customs they aim to cultivate.
The consultant said the tutor had to be somebody who attended "prestigious academies – comparable categories of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The tutor must be the right kind of person, they'll be carrying out things they don't even know they're doing, effortlessly," he said.
Money No Object
The family told him the selected educator should ideally also have understanding of or enthusiasm in riding, skiing, artistic pursuits and musical activities so as to inspire the child in a diverse set of interests.
More than that though, he said the family wanted the tutor to register the child on a range of courses so the child would be "equestrian training and starting an tool by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's view, helping their son grow into a "British gentleman" will result in achievement and open doors.
"For all the rights and wrongs of that, because it's undoubtedly a status symbol," he comments.
However, in spite of all this tutelage in "English culture", could the child absorb what is termed cultural leaning from the international family he is raised by in any case?
"Certainly", said Adam. "They realize this might not succeed, but they've merely embraced the perspective of, 'we should try and we should start as early as we can', because the cost of it is not a concern," he said.
Impractical
Several in the tutoring industry who have those reservations.
An education leader, head and founder of a tutoring service, who also offer private tutors, stated that "the journey of becoming bicultural, or actually, forming one's identity, is something that must be grown into, not manufactured."
He noted that he had emigrated from China to the UK at the time of seven, and had been brought up knowing and living both cultures. He continued to study at Cambridge University.
"The concept that one individual can serve as a living vessel of Britishness, someone who can possibly impart the attributes of a English gentleman to a 12-month-old child, strikes me as naive and unrealistic," he wrote.
"In my experience, having a distinctly English tutor from infancy will does not necessarily create the result they desire.
"I wasn't provided with such a figure, and yet I have been privileged enough to enjoy several of the opportunities they desire for their son."
He continued: "The fact is, self-identity cannot be forced from the external environment; it must be embraced, and it must be internally driven."
Acquiring Englishness
Certainly, English culture is something Adam thinks can be educated – and commercialized.
"I believe the situation that the world views us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
