"Parents residing in the northern part of London wants to find an extraordinary and qualified instructor to support their youngest child on his initial journey to becoming an English gentleman."
Upon seeing this advertisement, you might easily skip the wording "first-steps" as just figurative language.
Yet, it might be the most important aspect of this distinctive job advert, as it aims to recruit a tutor for a 12-month-old.
Many of applications have already been sent in since the anonymous family advertised their search for the £180k-a-year tutor, who has to be "a uniquely qualified person".
During the past few weeks, the post has received attention in the press, with several asking why?
Progressive Approach
Adam Caller, CEO and founder of Tutors International, which is helping the family in their search, said that in spite of first scepticism, he viewed the plan "far sighted", and "advanced".
When he spoke with the family, he noted they recognized the unconventional aspect of their requirement, and how early in age their son is.
Nevertheless, they explained that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had postponed until their firstborn was five, and by that stage "cultural conditioning had already set in".
What exactly does the family indicate by "cultural bias"?
It's "all-encompassing", he replied. "The manner you eat, the manner you speak".
He explained the elder child had adopted "very nuanced, unspoken signals" from the family, and had taken on their cultural ways. The family explained to the consultant they wished to avoid the same situation to recur with their infant.
The strategy: To engage a British tutor, who needs to speak with standard English accent, to shape the baby right from the beginning.
Osmotic Learning
"A great deal of the education at the beginning here is somewhat absorbed naturally," explained the CEO.
It's by means of this natural absorption that the family are expecting the child will acquire the English characteristics they wish to impart.
He noted the tutor needed to be someone 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 appropriate candidate, they'll be performing things they don't even know they're doing, effortlessly," he commented.
Expense Not a Factor
The family explained to Adam the selected educator should ideally also have understanding of or interest in riding, winter sports, artistic pursuits and musical activities so as to shape the child in a wide range of hobbies.
Furthermore though, he said the family wanted the tutor to enrol the child on a range of courses so the child would be "horseback riding and starting an musical instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's minds, helping their son become a "British gentleman" will bring about success and open doors.
"Taking into account the rights and wrongs of that, because it's certainly a status symbol," he notes.
But, notwithstanding all this instruction in "Britishness", could the child adopt alleged cultural bias from the globally influenced family he is raised by anyway?
"Yes", answered he. "They realize this might not succeed, but they've simply adopted the view of, 'we should try and we'll proceed as quickly as we can', because the price of it is irrelevant," he said.
Overly Optimistic
A number of in the private teaching field who share these reservations.
An education leader, CEO and founder of an educational organization, who supplies individual instructors, commented that "the journey of adopting dual cultures, or actually, forming one's identity, is something that must be experienced personally, not manufactured."
The expert explained that he had relocated from the Far East to the United Kingdom at the age of childhood, and had been brought up knowing and living both cultures. He went on to study at Cambridge University.
"The notion that an individual can act as a embodiment of Britishness, an individual who can possibly transfer the qualities of a British gentleman onto a infant child, appears naive and impractical," he stated.
"From my perspective, engaging a typically English tutor from early childhood will does not instantly achieve the outcome they hope for.
"I wasn't provided with such a tutor, and however I have been fortunate enough to enjoy several of the experiences they hope for their son."
He continued: "The truth is, cultural identity should not be imposed from the outside influences; it must be selected, and it must come from within."
Acquiring Englishness
Of course, UK identity is something Adam thinks can be taught – and commercialized.
"I think the fact that the international society views us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
