"A family based in the northern part of London is looking for an remarkable and experienced tutor to guide their most junior child on his early path to growing into an British gentleman."
When reading this listing, you might readily skip the phrase "first-steps" as just figurative language.
Yet, it could be the most significant part of this unique employment listing, as it attempts to hire a teacher for a infant.
Hundreds of responses have now been received since the unidentified family published their call for the £180,000 per year tutor, who has to be "someone very special".
Over the last few weeks, the post has received notice across the news, with many questioning why?
Forward-Thinking Method
The CEO, head and founder of an education consultancy, which is supporting the family in their quest, stated that despite initial scepticism, he viewed the concept "forward-looking", and "innovative".
When he spoke with the family, he noted they recognized the unusual nature of their demand, and how immature their son is.
But, they explained that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had held off until their firstborn was five, and by that point "cultural influence had already become established".
What precisely does the family refer to by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "comprehensive", Adam answered. "How you eat, how you speak".
He stated the firstborn had absorbed "very nuanced, body language" from the family, and had taken on their cultural norms. The family told him they wished to avoid the same situation to repeat itself with their younger child.
The strategy: To hire a English tutor, who must speak with Received Pronunciation, to influence the baby from day one.
Osmotic Learning
"A great deal of the development at the outset here is kind of osmotic," stated the expert.
It's via this osmosis that the family are hoping the child will adopt the English characteristics they wish to impart.
The consultant said the tutor had to be somebody who attended "the right kinds of schools – comparable categories of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The tutor just has to be the suitable individual, they'll be doing things they may not realize they're doing, just naturally," he commented.
Money No Object
The family explained to the expert the successful candidate should ideally also have familiarity of or interest in riding, skiing, artistic pursuits and music so as to shape the child in a wide range of interests.
Additionally though, he said the family wanted the tutor to enrol the child on a variety of courses so the child would be "equestrian training and picking up an instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's view, guiding their son develop into a "UK sophisticate" will result in success and create opportunities.
"Considering the pros and cons of that, because it's undoubtedly a class statement," he notes.
But, despite all this tutelage in "English culture", might the child adopt alleged cultural leaning from the globally influenced family he resides with in any case?
"Certainly", answered the CEO. "The family realize this may not work, but they've merely embraced the perspective of, 'we should try and let's go as early as we can', because the price of it is not relevant," he stated.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
A number of in the tutoring industry who have these doubts.
An education leader, CEO and founder of a tutoring service, who provides private tutors, stated that "the process of becoming bicultural, or actually, becoming oneself, is something that must be lived into, not engineered."
Peter wrote that he had emigrated from China to the Britain at the age of seven, and had been raised experiencing and embodying two backgrounds. He went on to be educated at the University of Cambridge.
"The concept that an individual can act as a embodiment of UK identity, someone who can somehow transplant the characteristics of a English gentleman upon a one-year-old child, appears naive and impractical," he commented.
"In my experience, employing a typically English tutor from infancy will not necessarily produce the goal they hope for.
"I wasn't provided with such a figure, and nevertheless I have been lucky enough to live several of the experiences they hope for their son."
He added: "The reality is, self-identity can not be dictated from the outside; it must be embraced, and it must be internally driven."
Buying Britishness
Certainly, Britishness is something Adam hopes can be taught – and commercialized.
"I believe the fact that the global community regards us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
