"A family based in north London wants to find an extraordinary and qualified tutor to assist their youngest child on his early path to growing into an English gentleman."
Looking at this listing, you might naturally skip the wording "first-steps" as mere figurative language.
However, it may be the most important element of this unique employment listing, as it attempts to recruit a tutor for a one-year-old.
Numerous of applications have since been submitted since the unnamed family advertised their request for the £180k-a-year tutor, who must be "a uniquely qualified person".
Over the last few weeks, the advert has attracted interest in the media, with several wondering why?
Innovative Idea
The CEO, head and founder of Tutors International, which is assisting the family in their hunt, said that in spite of first doubt, he found the idea "visionary", and "innovative".
When he spoke with the family, he noted they appreciated the atypical aspect of their demand, and how early in age their son is.
Nevertheless, they stated that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had held off until their elder sibling was five, and by that age "cultural conditioning had by then set in".
What precisely does the family mean by "cultural bias"?
It's "all-encompassing", Adam responded. "How you eat, the way you speak".
He explained the elder child had adopted "really subtle, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had adopted their cultural ways. The family informed the consultant they did not want history to repeat itself with their new baby.
The strategy: To engage a British tutor, who must speak with Received Pronunciation, to shape the baby from day one.
Natural Absorption
"A great deal of the education at the outset here is kind of absorbed naturally," explained Adam.
It's through this osmosis that the family are hoping the child will pick up the English characteristics they aim to cultivate.
Adam noted the tutor needed to be somebody who went to "prestigious academies – similar types of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The educator just has to be the right kind of person, they'll be performing things they may not realize 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 enthusiasm in equestrian activities, winter sports, the arts and instrumental training so as to influence the child in a wide range of passions.
Additionally though, he explained the family hoped the tutor to enrol the child on a range of courses so the child would be "pony-riding and picking up an musical instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's perspective, guiding their son grow into a "UK sophisticate" will bring about accomplishment and provide access.
"Taking into account the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's definitely a status symbol," he comments.
However, in spite of all this instruction in "English culture", could the child pick up alleged cultural bias from the globally influenced family he resides with in any case?
"Absolutely", said the CEO. "They realize this may not work, but they've simply adopted the view of, 'why not attempt it and we should start as early as we can', because the price of it is not relevant," he explained.
Overly Optimistic
Several in the education sector who have those concerns.
An education leader, chief executive of a tutoring service, who also offer individual instructors, wrote that "the development of becoming bicultural, or in fact, becoming oneself, is something that must be lived into, not manufactured."
The expert noted that he had moved from the Far East to the UK at the period of 7 years old, and had been brought up understanding and living both cultures. He continued to be educated at the University of Cambridge.
"The notion that an individual can serve as a representation of UK identity, someone who can in some way impart the attributes of a British gentleman to a one-year-old child, seems to me optimistic and unfeasible," he commented.
"Based on my background, having a distinctly English tutor from babyhood will will not instantly achieve the goal they desire.
"I wasn't provided with such a tutor, and however I have been fortunate enough to experience numerous of the opportunities they hope for their son."
He continued: "The fact is, personal identity cannot be imposed from the external environment; it must be selected, and it must be internally driven."
Purchasing UK Culture
Of course, UK identity is something the CEO believes can be taught – and commercialized.
"I think the fact that the world holds us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
