"A family based in north London wants to find an extraordinary and skilled educator to guide their youngest child on his initial journey to growing into an British gentleman."
Looking at this post, you might easily miss the wording "first-steps" as just a turn of phrase.
Yet, it could be the most significant aspect of this distinctive employment listing, as it aims to hire a teacher for a 12-month-old.
Hundreds of applications have since been submitted since the anonymous family published their call for the £180k-a-year tutor, who has to be "someone very special".
During the past few weeks, the advert has received notice in the news, with many questioning why?
Progressive Approach
A tutoring expert, CEO and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is supporting the family in their search, said that notwithstanding first doubt, he considered the idea "far sighted", and "progressive".
When he consulted the family, he mentioned they appreciated the unconventional character of their requirement, and how early in age their son is.
However, they explained that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had held off until their elder sibling was five, and by that stage "cultural influence had already taken hold".
What precisely does the family indicate by "cultural bias"?
It's "all-encompassing", the expert responded. "The way you eat, the manner you speak".
He stated the older sibling had adopted "extremely delicate, unspoken signals" from the family, and had taken on their cultural habits. The family told him they hoped to prevent this pattern to repeat itself with their new baby.
The intention: To bring in a UK tutor, who should speak with RP, to influence the baby from day one.
Natural Absorption
"A great deal of the learning at the beginning here is rather absorbed naturally," stated the expert.
It's through this osmosis that the family are aiming the child will adopt the UK customs they wish to impart.
He explained the tutor needed to be someone who went to "the right kinds of schools – comparable categories of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The tutor must be the suitable individual, they'll be carrying out things they don't even know they're doing, simply by nature," he said.
Money No Object
The family informed Adam the successful candidate should ideally also have knowledge of or passion in equestrian activities, winter sports, the arts and music 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 variety of courses so the child would be "horseback riding and learning an musical instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's perspective, guiding their son develop into a "English gentleman" will result in achievement and provide access.
"For all the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's definitely a social class indicator," he notes.
Yet, in spite of all this tutelage in "English culture", could the child pick up alleged cultural leaning from the international family he resides with in any case?
"Certainly", replied he. "The parents realize this could fail, but they've simply adopted the view of, 'we should try and let's go as quickly as we can', because the cost of it is not a concern," he said.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
There are some in the education sector who express these doubts.
Another CEO, CEO and founder of Blue Education, who supplies individual instructors, stated that "the journey of becoming bicultural, or in fact, becoming oneself, is something that must be grown into, not engineered."
He explained that he had moved from Asia to the United Kingdom at the time of seven, and had been educated understanding and embodying two backgrounds. He went on to study at Cambridge University.
"The concept that a single person can serve as a embodiment of English culture, a person who can in some way transplant the attributes of a English gentleman onto a one-year-old child, seems to me optimistic and impractical," he commented.
"Based on my background, employing a typically English tutor from babyhood will will not necessarily achieve the result they hope for.
"I wasn't provided with such a tutor, and yet I have been lucky enough to live many of the situations they hope for their son."
He stated: "The fact is, cultural identity can not be forced from the external environment; it must be embraced, and it must be internally driven."
Purchasing UK Culture
Certainly, Britishness is something Adam believes can be taught – and marketed.
"I believe the reality that the international society views us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
