"A household located in North London is looking for an exceptional and qualified tutor to guide their most junior child on his early path to becoming an British gentleman."
Looking at this post, you might naturally overlook the term "first-steps" as mere figurative language.
However, it may be the crucial element of this unusual job advert, as it attempts to hire a teacher for a 12-month-old.
Many of responses have already been submitted since the anonymous family advertised their call for the £180k-a-year tutor, who has to be "a uniquely qualified person".
In recent few weeks, the advert has attracted attention throughout the press, with numerous questioning why?
Progressive Approach
A tutoring expert, chief executive of Tutors International, which is assisting the family in their hunt, stated that despite first skepticism, he found the idea "far sighted", and "advanced".
When he consulted the family, he noted they appreciated the unconventional aspect of their request, and how early in age their son is.
Nevertheless, they clarified that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had held off until their elder sibling was five, and by that age "cultural influence had already set in".
What exactly does the family mean by "cultural bias"?
It's "everything", the expert replied. "The way you eat, how you speak".
He explained the older sibling had adopted "very nuanced, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had assumed their cultural norms. The family told him they hoped to prevent this pattern to recur with their younger child.
The strategy: To engage a English tutor, who needs to speak with RP, to shape the baby right from the beginning.
Natural Absorption
"A great deal of the learning at the outset here is kind of acquired indirectly," said the CEO.
It's by means of this natural absorption that the family are hoping the child will pick up the UK customs they aim to impart.
Adam explained the tutor must be an individual who went to "prestigious academies – comparable categories of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The educator must be the appropriate candidate, they'll be carrying out things they aren't even aware they're doing, effortlessly," he added.
Expense Not a Factor
The family told the expert the chosen tutor should ideally also have familiarity of or interest in equestrian activities, alpine skiing, artistic pursuits and instrumental training so as to inspire the child in a wide range of interests.
More than that though, he explained the family wanted the tutor to sign up the child on a range of lessons so the child would be "pony-riding and picking up an instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's view, assisting their son develop into a "UK sophisticate" will result in achievement and provide access.
"For all the pros and cons of that, because it's definitely a social class indicator," he adds.
However, in spite of all this tutelage in "Britishness", might the child pick up so-called cultural bias from the international family he resides with in any case?
"Yes", replied the CEO. "The parents realize this could fail, but they've just taken the attitude of, 'why not attempt it and let's go as quickly as we can', because the price of it is not relevant," he explained.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
Several in the education sector who have these concerns.
Peter Cui, head and founder of an educational organization, who also offer personal educators, wrote that "the journey of adopting dual cultures, or actually, forming one's identity, is something that must be experienced personally, not manufactured."
The expert noted that he had relocated from China to the UK at the period of childhood, and had been educated knowing and embodying dual heritages. He continued to study at a prestigious UK institution.
"The concept that an individual can function as a representation of Britishness, an individual who can possibly impart the characteristics of a UK sophisticate to a one-year-old child, appears optimistic and impractical," he commented.
"In my experience, engaging a distinctly UK tutor from babyhood will not automatically achieve the outcome they hope for.
"I never had such a tutor, and nevertheless I have been fortunate enough to enjoy many of the experiences they hope for their son."
He stated: "The truth is, cultural identity can not be dictated from the outside; it must be chosen, and it must originate internally."
Purchasing UK Culture
Certainly, UK identity is something the CEO hopes can be instructed – and sold.
"I think the reality that the international society regards us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
