"A family based in North London seeks an extraordinary and skilled educator to assist their youngest child on his initial journey to turning into an English gentleman."
Upon seeing this advertisement, you might easily overlook the term "first-steps" as simple an expression.
Yet, it may be the most important aspect of this unique employment listing, as it aims to find a tutor for a infant.
Hundreds of responses have now been received since the unnamed family posted their call for the £180,000 per year tutor, who has to be "someone very special".
During the past few weeks, the post has received interest in the news, with many asking why?
Innovative Idea
Adam Caller, chief executive of an education consultancy, which is supporting the family in their search, said that notwithstanding first doubt, he viewed the idea "far sighted", and "progressive".
When he spoke with the family, he mentioned they understood the atypical aspect of their requirement, and how young their son is.
Nevertheless, they clarified that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to get a tutor, as they had waited until their elder sibling was five, and by that point "cultural influence had already set in".
What exactly does the family mean by "cultural leaning"?
It's "everything", the expert responded. "How you eat, the way you speak".
He explained the older sibling had absorbed "extremely delicate, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had taken on their cultural norms. The family explained to him they wished to avoid the same situation to repeat itself with their infant.
The plan: To bring in a UK tutor, who must speak with Received Pronunciation, to shape the baby from day one.
Osmotic Learning
"Much of the learning at the beginning here is rather absorbed naturally," explained the CEO.
It's by means of this subtle influence that the family are hoping the child will adopt the British traits they wish to cultivate.
He noted the tutor must be somebody who went to "the appropriate educational institutions – comparable categories of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The educator must be the appropriate candidate, they'll be performing things they may not realize they're doing, simply by nature," he commented.
Cost Not Relevant
The family told the expert the selected educator should ideally also have knowledge of or enthusiasm in horse riding, alpine skiing, creative fields and music so as to influence the child in a wide range of interests.
Furthermore though, he explained the family wanted the tutor to enrol 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 minds, assisting their son become a "English gentleman" will lead to achievement and create opportunities.
"Taking into account the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's undoubtedly a social class indicator," he comments.
But, despite all this instruction in "English culture", could the child absorb so-called cultural influence from the multicultural family he resides with anyway?
"Absolutely", replied Adam. "They know this may not work, but they've just taken the attitude of, 'we should try and we'll proceed as early as we can', because the expense of it is irrelevant," he stated.
Impractical
Several in the tutoring industry who express similar concerns.
Another CEO, CEO and founder of an educational organization, who supplies private tutors, commented that "the development of embracing two identities, or actually, becoming oneself, is something that must be grown into, not designed."
He wrote that he had relocated from China to the United Kingdom at the age of childhood, and had been raised knowing and living two backgrounds. He continued to study at Cambridge University.
"The notion that a single person can act as a representation of UK identity, a person who can in some way transplant the attributes of a British gentleman upon a one-year-old child, seems to me idealistic and unrealistic," he stated.
"In my experience, engaging a quintessentially British tutor from early childhood will not instantly achieve the goal they desire.
"I did not have such a figure, and yet I have been lucky enough to enjoy numerous of the experiences they desire for their son."
He added: "The truth is, self-identity cannot be imposed from the outside influences; it must be chosen, and it must come from within."
Acquiring Englishness
Certainly, English culture is something the CEO thinks can be educated – and sold.
"In my view the fact that the world holds us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
