"A household based in the northern part of London wants to find an extraordinary and qualified educator to assist their smallest child on his early path to turning into an English gentleman."
Looking at this post, you might naturally overlook the wording "first-steps" as just figurative language.
However, it may be the most significant part of this unusual employment listing, as it seeks to find a tutor for a infant.
Hundreds of applications have already been received since the unnamed family published their call for the highly paid tutor, who must be "a uniquely qualified person".
In recent few weeks, the post has gained attention in the press, with several wondering why?
Progressive Approach
A tutoring expert, chief executive of an education consultancy, which is assisting the family in their search, said that despite initial skepticism, he considered the plan "visionary", and "advanced".
When he met the family, he mentioned they recognized the unusual nature of their request, and how immature their son is.
But, they stated that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to get a tutor, as they had held off until their elder sibling was five, and by that age "cultural influence had already taken hold".
What precisely did the family refer to by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "everything", Adam replied. "How you eat, the way you speak".
He said the elder child had picked up "really subtle, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had taken on their cultural habits. The family told the consultant they wished to avoid history to happen again with their infant.
The intention: To engage a British tutor, who needs to speak with RP, to influence the baby from day one.
Osmotic Learning
"Much of the education at the beginning here is rather osmotic," explained the expert.
It's via this osmosis that the family are expecting the child will adopt the UK customs they want to impart.
The consultant noted the tutor needed to be an individual who went to "the appropriate educational institutions – similar types of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The tutor just has to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be carrying out things they don't even know they're doing, simply by nature," he added.
Money No Object
The family explained to him the selected educator should ideally also have knowledge of or passion in equestrian activities, skiing, the arts and music so as to influence the child in a broad spectrum of passions.
More than that though, he stated the family desired the tutor to enrol the child on a range of lessons so the child would be "pony-riding and learning an musical instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's view, helping their son become a "UK sophisticate" will bring about success and open doors.
"Considering the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's definitely a class statement," he adds.
Yet, notwithstanding all this tutelage in "UK identity", would the child pick up alleged cultural bias from the multicultural family he lives with in any case?
"Yes", said Adam. "They understand this may not work, but they've just taken 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 stated.
Impractical
Several in the private teaching field who express those concerns.
Another CEO, chief executive of an educational organization, who supplies individual instructors, stated that "the journey of becoming bicultural, or in fact, forming one's identity, is something that must be grown into, not engineered."
Peter noted that he had relocated from Asia to the UK at the age of seven, and had been raised experiencing and embodying dual heritages. He progressed to be educated at a prestigious UK institution.
"The idea that an individual can function as a embodiment of English culture, an individual who can possibly impart the attributes of a UK sophisticate upon a 12-month-old child, appears optimistic and unfeasible," he wrote.
"From my perspective, having a typically British tutor from early childhood will does not instantly achieve the result they desire.
"I did not have such a tutor, and however I have been fortunate enough to enjoy many of the situations they desire for their son."
He continued: "The truth is, cultural identity should not be imposed from the outside; it must be chosen, and it must come from within."
Acquiring Englishness
Certainly, English culture is something the CEO hopes can be educated – and commercialized.
"In my view the situation that the international society holds us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
