"Parents residing in the northern part of London wants to find an extraordinary and skilled tutor to guide their most junior child on his initial journey to turning into an British gentleman."
Looking at this advertisement, you might readily skip the wording "first-steps" as mere an expression.
However, it might be the most significant part of this unusual position posting, as it aims to find a tutor for a infant.
Hundreds of submissions have already been received since the anonymous family published their call for the £180,000 per year tutor, who has to be "a uniquely qualified person".
During the past few weeks, the listing has gained notice across the media, with several wondering why?
Innovative Idea
The CEO, head and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is supporting the family in their search, explained that in spite of early doubt, he found the plan "visionary", and "progressive".
When he spoke with the family, he said they recognized the atypical aspect of their requirement, and how young their son is.
Nevertheless, they explained that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had postponed until their elder sibling was five, and by that point "cultural conditioning had already taken hold".
But what does the family mean by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "comprehensive", the expert replied. "The way you eat, the way you speak".
He said the older sibling had picked up "very nuanced, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had adopted their cultural ways. The family explained to Adam they wished to avoid the same situation to happen again with their infant.
The strategy: To bring in a UK tutor, who must speak with Received Pronunciation, to influence the baby from the very start.
Natural Absorption
"Much of the education at the start here is kind of acquired indirectly," explained Adam.
It's through this natural absorption that the family are expecting the child will acquire the UK customs they want to cultivate.
He noted the tutor needed to be someone who studied at "the right kinds of schools – the same kinds of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The instructor must be the suitable individual, they'll be carrying out things they aren't even aware they're doing, just naturally," he said.
Expense Not a Factor
The family told Adam the chosen tutor should preferably also have understanding of or interest in riding, alpine skiing, the arts and instrumental training so as to influence the child in a wide range of passions.
More than that though, he explained the family hoped the tutor to register the child on a variety of courses so the child would be "equestrian training and learning an tool by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's perspective, guiding their son become a "UK sophisticate" will result in success and provide access.
"For all the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's certainly a status symbol," he comments.
However, notwithstanding all this tutelage in "English culture", might the child absorb what is termed cultural influence from the multicultural family he is raised by in any case?
"Certainly", answered Adam. "The parents realize this could fail, but they've simply adopted the attitude of, 'we should try and we should start as soon as we can', because the cost of it is not a concern," he explained.
Impractical
There are some in the tutoring industry who share similar reservations.
Another CEO, chief executive of an educational organization, who also offer personal educators, stated that "the journey of adopting dual cultures, or actually, becoming oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not manufactured."
The expert explained that he had relocated from China to the Britain at the period of 7 years old, and had been educated experiencing and embodying both cultures. He went on to learn at the University of Cambridge.
"The notion that one individual can act as a representation of UK identity, an individual who can possibly transplant the characteristics of a British gentleman to a 12-month-old child, strikes me as optimistic and impractical," he wrote.
"In my experience, employing a quintessentially British tutor from infancy will not automatically produce the goal they hope for.
"I wasn't provided with such a tutor, and yet I have been lucky enough to enjoy several of the opportunities they hope for their son."
He stated: "The reality is, self-identity cannot be forced from the outside influences; it must be selected, and it must come from within."
Acquiring Englishness
Certainly, UK identity is something the expert thinks can be educated – and commercialized.
"In my view the situation that the international society regards us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
