"A family residing in north London seeks an exceptional and skilled instructor to guide their smallest child on his early path to turning into an British gentleman."
Upon seeing this listing, you might readily skip the term "first-steps" as just a turn of phrase.
But, it might be the most important element of this distinctive position posting, as it aims to recruit a tutor for a one-year-old.
Hundreds of applications have already been received since the anonymous family published their search for the highly paid tutor, who needs to be "someone very special".
In recent few weeks, the post has received notice in the press, with several asking why?
Innovative Idea
Adam Caller, head and founder of Tutors International, which is supporting the family in their search, explained that in spite of first scepticism, he found the plan "far sighted", and "innovative".
When he met the family, he mentioned they recognized the unconventional character of their requirement, and how immature their son is.
Nevertheless, they explained 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 stage "cultural conditioning had already become established".
What precisely did the family mean by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "everything", he responded. "The manner you eat, the way you speak".
He said the firstborn had absorbed "extremely delicate, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had taken on their cultural norms. The family informed him they wished to avoid the same situation to happen again with their younger child.
The plan: To engage a UK tutor, who should speak with RP, to influence the baby from the very start.
Osmotic Learning
"Much of the development at the outset here is kind of acquired indirectly," explained the expert.
It's by means of this natural absorption that the family are aiming the child will adopt the UK customs they aim to impart.
Adam explained the tutor needed to be an individual who attended "prestigious academies – the same kinds of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The tutor just has to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be carrying out things they aren't even aware they're doing, just naturally," he commented.
Expense Not a Factor
The family explained to the expert the chosen tutor should preferably also have knowledge of or interest in riding, winter sports, the arts and musical activities so as to inspire the child in a wide range of hobbies.
Additionally though, he said the family desired the tutor to register the child on a selection of courses so the child would be "pony-riding and learning an instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's view, assisting their son become a "UK sophisticate" will lead to achievement and open doors.
"For all the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's certainly a status symbol," he adds.
Yet, notwithstanding all this guidance in "Britishness", could the child absorb what is termed cultural influence from the international family he is raised by anyway?
"Yes", replied Adam. "They understand this could fail, but they've merely embraced the attitude of, 'let's give it a go and we'll proceed as soon as we can', because the price of it is irrelevant," he stated.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
A number of in the private teaching field who have those reservations.
An education leader, CEO and founder of a tutoring service, who supplies private tutors, commented that "the process of embracing two identities, or indeed, forming one's identity, is something that must be grown into, not engineered."
The expert explained that he had emigrated from China to the UK at the age of 7 years old, and had been brought up experiencing and practicing both cultures. He continued to be educated at the University of Cambridge.
"The notion that one individual can act as a embodiment of Britishness, an individual who can in some way transfer the qualities of a UK sophisticate onto a one-year-old child, seems to me idealistic and unrealistic," he stated.
"Based on my background, having a distinctly UK tutor from infancy will will not instantly produce the goal they want.
"I did not have such a tutor, and however I have been lucky enough to experience many of the experiences they hope for their son."
He added: "The truth is, personal identity cannot be forced from the outside influences; it must be embraced, and it must originate internally."
Purchasing UK Culture
Naturally, Britishness is something the expert believes can be educated – and commercialized.
"In my view the fact that the international society regards us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
