"A family located in North London wants to find an extraordinary and experienced educator to assist their most junior child on his initial journey to turning into an English gentleman."
Looking at this advertisement, you might easily miss the term "first-steps" as mere a turn of phrase.
However, it might be the most significant part of this unique employment listing, as it seeks to recruit a tutor for a 12-month-old.
Many of responses have now been sent in since the unnamed family advertised their request for the £180k-a-year tutor, who has to be "an exceptional individual".
Over the last few weeks, the advert has received interest across the news, with numerous questioning why?
Innovative Idea
Adam Caller, chief executive of a global tutoring firm, which is assisting the family in their quest, stated that in spite of initial doubt, he considered the concept "forward-looking", and "advanced".
When he spoke with the family, he said they recognized the unconventional nature of their request, and how young their son is.
But, they explained that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had waited until their elder sibling was five, and by that age "cultural conditioning had already set in".
What exactly does the family indicate by "cultural leaning"?
It's "all-encompassing", he responded. "How you eat, the way you speak".
He said the elder child had picked up "extremely delicate, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had adopted their cultural habits. The family told him they wished to avoid history to repeat itself with their younger child.
The strategy: To engage a UK tutor, who must speak with RP, to shape the baby from day one.
Natural Absorption
"Much of the development at the start here is somewhat absorbed naturally," said the expert.
It's via this natural absorption that the family are expecting the child will acquire the English characteristics they wish to impart.
He noted the tutor had to be someone who went to "the right kinds of schools – comparable categories of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The educator simply needs to be the suitable individual, they'll be carrying out things they aren't even aware they're doing, simply by nature," he commented.
Money No Object
The family explained to the expert the chosen tutor should ideally also have understanding of or passion in riding, winter sports, artistic pursuits and music so as to influence the child in a diverse set of passions.
Additionally though, he explained the family desired the tutor to register the child on a range of lessons so the child would be "horseback riding and learning an tool by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's perspective, guiding their son become a "British gentleman" will result in achievement and create opportunities.
"Considering the rights and wrongs of that, because it's certainly a status symbol," he adds.
But, despite all this instruction in "English culture", would the child absorb so-called cultural bias from the globally influenced family he resides with in any case?
"Certainly", said the CEO. "The parents know this might not succeed, but they've simply adopted the attitude of, 'we should try and we should start as early as we can', because the expense of it is not a concern," he said.
Overly Optimistic
Several in the private teaching field who share similar reservations.
An education leader, chief executive of an educational organization, who also offer personal educators, stated that "the journey of becoming bicultural, or indeed, forming one's identity, is something that must be lived into, not designed."
The expert explained that he had relocated from Asia to the UK at the period of childhood, and had been brought up experiencing and practicing both cultures. He continued to learn at the University of Cambridge.
"The concept that an individual can act as a embodiment of English culture, someone who can in some way transplant the attributes of a British gentleman upon a infant child, strikes me as optimistic and unfeasible," he commented.
"From my perspective, employing a distinctly UK tutor from early childhood will does not instantly create the result they hope for.
"I did not have that kind of mentor, and nevertheless I have been fortunate enough to live many of the opportunities they aspire for their son."
He added: "The fact is, cultural identity should not be dictated from the external environment; it must be embraced, and it must originate internally."
Acquiring Englishness
Certainly, English culture is something Adam thinks can be taught – and sold.
"I think the fact that the global community holds us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
