"Parents based in north London is looking for an remarkable and qualified tutor to guide their smallest child on his early path to turning into an British gentleman."
When reading this post, you might readily miss the wording "first-steps" as just a turn of phrase.
Yet, it could be the most important part of this distinctive employment listing, as it seeks to hire a tutor for a one-year-old.
Hundreds of submissions have since been submitted since the anonymous family published their call for the £180k-a-year tutor, who must be "someone very special".
In recent few weeks, the listing has attracted attention in the news, with several questioning why?
Progressive Approach
Adam Caller, head and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is helping the family in their hunt, said that despite first doubt, he viewed the plan "far sighted", and "advanced".
When he consulted the family, he noted they recognized the unconventional nature of their request, and how young their son is.
Nevertheless, they stated that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to get a tutor, as they had postponed until their elder sibling was five, and by that point "cultural bias had already become established".
What precisely did the family indicate by "cultural bias"?
It's "comprehensive", the expert answered. "The way you eat, the manner you speak".
He stated the older sibling had adopted "very nuanced, body language" from the family, and had taken on their cultural ways. The family told him they hoped to prevent this pattern to recur with their younger child.
The strategy: To bring in a British tutor, who must speak with standard English accent, to shape the baby right from the beginning.
Natural Absorption
"A lot of the development at the beginning here is rather absorbed naturally," stated the CEO.
It's through this natural absorption that the family are hoping the child will acquire the British traits they wish to instil.
He explained the tutor must be an individual who studied at "the appropriate educational institutions – comparable categories of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The instructor simply needs to be the suitable individual, they'll be carrying out things they may not realize they're doing, just naturally," he commented.
Expense Not a Factor
The family explained to Adam the successful candidate should ideally also have understanding of or passion in horse riding, alpine skiing, the arts and music so as to shape the child in a diverse set of passions.
More than that though, he explained the family hoped the tutor to register the child on a range of courses so the child would be "pony-riding and picking up an tool by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's minds, guiding their son grow into a "British gentleman" will bring about success and open doors.
"For all the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's definitely a social class indicator," he adds.
Yet, notwithstanding all this instruction in "Britishness", could the child pick up alleged cultural bias from the international family he resides with in any case?
"Certainly", replied he. "The parents realize this may not work, but they've just taken the view of, 'why not attempt it and we should start as soon as we can', because the price of it is not relevant," he stated.
Overly Optimistic
There are some in the private teaching field who express those concerns.
Another CEO, head and founder of an educational organization, who also offer individual instructors, stated that "the journey of adopting dual cultures, or in fact, becoming oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not engineered."
He wrote that he had emigrated from the Far East to the United Kingdom at the time of 7 years old, and had been brought up understanding and embodying dual heritages. He continued to study at Cambridge University.
"The concept that an individual can serve as a embodiment of Britishness, someone who can in some way transfer the characteristics of a UK sophisticate onto a 12-month-old child, seems to me idealistic and impractical," he wrote.
"From my perspective, engaging a distinctly English tutor from infancy will not necessarily create the result they desire.
"I wasn't provided with such a tutor, and however I have been fortunate enough to enjoy several of the situations they desire for their son."
He added: "The reality is, self-identity can not be dictated from the outside influences; it must be chosen, and it must be internally driven."
Acquiring Englishness
Naturally, Britishness is something the CEO believes can be taught – and sold.
"In my view the situation that the global community regards us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
