"Parents residing in north London wants to find an remarkable and experienced instructor to assist their smallest child on his early path to becoming an English gentleman."
When reading this post, you might naturally miss the wording "first-steps" as just an expression.
Yet, it might be the crucial part of this distinctive position posting, as it aims to recruit a tutor for a 12-month-old.
Many of submissions have now been received since the unnamed family advertised their request for the £180k-a-year tutor, who has to be "someone very special".
In recent few weeks, the advert has gained attention throughout the media, with numerous questioning why?
Forward-Thinking Method
A tutoring expert, chief executive of Tutors International, which is supporting the family in their search, said that despite first doubt, he viewed the concept "forward-looking", and "innovative".
When he spoke with the family, he noted they recognized the unconventional aspect of their request, and how young their son is.
However, they explained that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had held off until their elder sibling was five, and by that stage "cultural influence had by then become established".
What exactly does the family mean by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "all-encompassing", he responded. "The manner you eat, the way you speak".
He explained the firstborn had absorbed "very nuanced, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had taken on their cultural norms. The family explained to the consultant they wished to avoid the same situation to repeat itself with their new baby.
The strategy: To bring in a British tutor, who must speak with standard English accent, to influence the baby from day one.
Osmotic Learning
"A great deal of the learning at the beginning here is somewhat osmotic," explained Adam.
It's through this subtle influence that the family are expecting the child will adopt the English characteristics they wish to instil.
The consultant noted the tutor needed to be an individual who attended "the appropriate educational institutions – similar types of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The tutor must be the right kind of person, they'll be performing things they aren't even aware they're doing, simply by nature," he added.
Money No Object
The family informed him the chosen tutor should ideally also have understanding of or enthusiasm in riding, skiing, the arts and musical activities so as to inspire the child in a wide range of hobbies.
More than that though, he stated the family hoped the tutor to enrol the child on a selection of courses so the child would be "pony-riding and picking up an tool by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's view, helping their son develop into a "UK sophisticate" will result in success and provide access.
"For all the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's definitely a social class indicator," he comments.
However, despite all this tutelage in "Britishness", could the child pick up alleged cultural influence from the international family he is raised by in any case?
"Absolutely", said he. "The parents know this could fail, but they've merely embraced the view of, 'why not attempt it and we should start as early as we can', because the price of it is not relevant," he said.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
Several in the private teaching field who express those doubts.
Another CEO, CEO and founder of an educational organization, who also offer private tutors, stated that "the development of adopting dual cultures, or actually, becoming oneself, is something that must be lived into, not engineered."
He noted that he had moved from the Far East to the UK at the period of 7 years old, and had been brought up knowing and living dual heritages. He went on to study at a prestigious UK institution.
"The notion that one individual can function as a representation of UK identity, a person who can in some way impart the qualities of a English gentleman onto a 12-month-old child, seems to me optimistic and impractical," he stated.
"In my experience, having a typically British tutor from babyhood will will not instantly produce the goal they want.
"I did not have such a figure, and however I have been privileged enough to live numerous of the experiences they aspire for their son."
He added: "The reality is, cultural identity should not be forced from the outside influences; it must be embraced, and it must originate internally."
Buying Britishness
Certainly, English culture is something the CEO believes can be taught – and commercialized.
"I think the reality that the international society holds us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
