"A household based in the northern part of London wants to find an remarkable and qualified tutor to assist their most junior child on his early path to turning into an English gentleman."
When reading this listing, you might easily overlook the term "first-steps" as mere an expression.
However, it could be the crucial part of this unique position posting, as it attempts to hire a tutor for a infant.
Hundreds of submissions have already been submitted since the anonymous family posted their call for the £180k-a-year tutor, who must be "a uniquely qualified person".
Over the last few weeks, the advert has gained interest across the media, with several asking why?
Progressive Approach
The CEO, CEO and founder of an education consultancy, which is helping the family in their hunt, said that in spite of first scepticism, he viewed the concept "forward-looking", and "advanced".
When he spoke with the family, he said they recognized the unconventional aspect of their requirement, and how early in age their son is.
Nevertheless, they stated that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to get a tutor, as they had postponed until their elder sibling was five, and by that age "cultural bias had by then set in".
What exactly did the family refer to by "cultural bias"?
It's "everything", Adam responded. "The way you eat, the manner you speak".
He explained the firstborn had adopted "really subtle, unspoken signals" from the family, and had taken on their cultural habits. The family told him they wished to avoid this pattern to recur with their younger child.
The intention: To bring in a British tutor, who must speak with RP, to influence the baby right from the beginning.
Osmotic Learning
"A great deal of the education at the start here is rather acquired indirectly," said the expert.
It's by means of this subtle influence that the family are expecting the child will adopt the UK customs they want to cultivate.
Adam explained the tutor must be somebody who went to "prestigious academies – similar types of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The educator simply needs to be the suitable individual, they'll be performing things they don't even know they're doing, just naturally," he commented.
Expense Not a Factor
The family informed Adam the chosen tutor should ideally also have understanding of or enthusiasm in equestrian activities, winter sports, creative fields and musical activities so as to inspire the child in a diverse set of passions.
Additionally though, he stated the family wanted the tutor to sign up the child on a selection of lessons so the child would be "horseback riding and picking up an musical instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's view, helping their son grow into a "UK sophisticate" will result in achievement and create opportunities.
"For all the pros and cons of that, because it's certainly a class statement," he comments.
Yet, in spite of all this guidance in "English culture", would the child pick up alleged cultural bias from the international family he resides with anyway?
"Yes", replied he. "They know this may not work, but they've merely embraced the perspective of, 'let's give it a go and let's go as soon as we can', because the price of it is not a concern," he said.
Overly Optimistic
Several in the tutoring industry who express similar reservations.
Another CEO, head and founder of Blue Education, who also offer private tutors, wrote that "the development of becoming bicultural, or indeed, becoming oneself, is something that must be grown into, not manufactured."
Peter explained that he had relocated from China to the United Kingdom at the age of seven, and had been brought up knowing and embodying two backgrounds. He went on to study at the University of Cambridge.
"The concept that a single person can serve as a embodiment of English culture, an individual who can in some way transplant the characteristics of a British gentleman upon a 12-month-old child, strikes me as optimistic and unrealistic," he wrote.
"In my experience, engaging a typically British tutor from early childhood will will not instantly achieve the result they want.
"I did not have such a tutor, and nevertheless I have been fortunate enough to experience numerous of the experiences they aspire for their son."
He continued: "The truth is, personal identity cannot be forced from the outside; it must be embraced, and it must be internally driven."
Buying Britishness
Of course, English culture is something the CEO thinks can be educated – and commercialized.
"I think the fact that the international society regards us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
