"A household based in North London is looking for an extraordinary and experienced educator to support their smallest child on his early path to turning into an English gentleman."
Looking at this advertisement, you might naturally skip the wording "first-steps" as mere figurative language.
However, it may be the most significant element of this unusual employment listing, as it attempts to hire a teacher for a one-year-old.
Numerous of applications have now been received since the anonymous family advertised their call for the £180k-a-year tutor, who needs to be "a uniquely qualified person".
In recent few weeks, the advert has gained attention across the media, with numerous wondering why?
Innovative Idea
Adam Caller, chief executive of Tutors International, which is helping the family in their quest, said that notwithstanding initial skepticism, he considered the concept "far sighted", and "advanced".
When he met the family, he noted they understood the unusual nature of their request, and how immature their son is.
Nevertheless, they stated that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to get a tutor, as they had postponed until their older child was five, and by that age "cultural influence had by then set in".
What exactly does the family mean by "cultural leaning"?
It's "everything", the expert replied. "The manner you eat, how you speak".
He explained the elder child had absorbed "really subtle, body language" from the family, and had taken on their cultural habits. The family told Adam they wished to avoid this pattern to happen again with their infant.
The strategy: To hire a UK tutor, who must speak with standard English accent, to guide the baby from the very start.
Natural Absorption
"A great deal of the learning at the start here is somewhat osmotic," explained the expert.
It's via this osmosis that the family are aiming the child will acquire the British traits they aim to impart.
He said the tutor must be somebody who went to "prestigious academies – comparable categories of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The instructor simply needs to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be carrying out things they don't even know they're doing, just naturally," he said.
Cost Not Relevant
The family explained to Adam the selected educator should ideally also have understanding of or interest in equestrian activities, alpine skiing, artistic pursuits and music so as to inspire the child in a diverse set of passions.
Additionally though, he stated the family desired the tutor to enrol the child on a variety of classes so the child would be "pony-riding and learning an tool by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's view, guiding their son become a "UK sophisticate" will lead to success and create opportunities.
"For all the rights and wrongs of that, because it's definitely a status symbol," he adds.
But, in spite of all this guidance in "Britishness", might the child pick up alleged cultural bias from the international family he is raised by in any case?
"Yes", replied the CEO. "They realize this may not work, but they've simply adopted the attitude of, 'let's give it a go and we should start as quickly as we can', because the expense of it is not a concern," he said.
Overly Optimistic
There are some in the private teaching field who have these concerns.
Another CEO, CEO and founder of a tutoring service, who also offer personal educators, commented that "the journey of embracing two identities, or actually, forming one's identity, is something that must be experienced personally, not manufactured."
He explained that he had emigrated from the Far East to the Britain at the age of seven, and had been brought up knowing and embodying both cultures. He continued to study at a prestigious UK institution.
"The idea that one individual can function as a embodiment of UK identity, an individual who can possibly impart the attributes of a British gentleman onto a one-year-old child, strikes me as naive and impractical," he stated.
"In my experience, having a distinctly UK tutor from early childhood will will not necessarily achieve the outcome they desire.
"I did not have such a tutor, and nevertheless I have been lucky enough to enjoy many of the situations they hope for their son."
He stated: "The truth is, personal identity cannot be imposed from the outside influences; it must be embraced, and it must originate internally."
Buying Britishness
Of course, English culture is something the expert believes can be educated – and marketed.
"I think the reality that the global community views us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
