"Parents residing in North London wants to find an remarkable and skilled tutor to support their most junior child on his initial journey to growing into an British gentleman."
Looking at this advertisement, you might readily skip the wording "first-steps" as mere a turn of phrase.
Yet, it may be the crucial aspect of this distinctive position posting, as it seeks to recruit a tutor for a infant.
Numerous of applications have now been received since the anonymous family advertised their search for the £180k-a-year tutor, who needs to be "someone very special".
During the past few weeks, the post has received notice across the press, with many questioning why?
Innovative Idea
Adam Caller, CEO and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is helping the family in their hunt, explained that in spite of initial scepticism, he viewed the plan "far sighted", and "progressive".
When he spoke with the family, he said they recognized the atypical nature of their demand, and how immature their son is.
But, they explained 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 stage "cultural conditioning had already become established".
But what did the family refer to by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "comprehensive", he responded. "The manner you eat, the manner you speak".
He said the firstborn had picked up "very nuanced, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had taken on their cultural ways. The family informed him they hoped to prevent the same situation to happen again with their new baby.
The intention: To engage a UK tutor, who should speak with Received Pronunciation, to guide the baby from the very start.
Osmotic Learning
"A lot of the education at the start here is kind of acquired indirectly," stated Adam.
It's by means of this natural absorption that the family are aiming the child will acquire the UK customs they wish to impart.
Adam noted the tutor must be an individual who studied at "prestigious academies – similar types of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The instructor must be the right kind of person, they'll be carrying out things they may not realize they're doing, simply by nature," he said.
Money No Object
The family informed Adam the selected educator should ideally also have understanding of or interest in horse riding, winter sports, creative fields and instrumental training so as to inspire the child in a diverse set of hobbies.
Furthermore though, he stated the family hoped the tutor to enrol the child on a variety of lessons so the child would be "equestrian training and learning an instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's perspective, guiding their son develop into a "UK sophisticate" will result in achievement and open doors.
"Taking into account the pros and cons of that, because it's undoubtedly a status symbol," he notes.
But, despite all this guidance in "UK identity", could the child adopt what is termed cultural leaning from the international family he lives with regardless?
"Certainly", said he. "The family understand this may not work, but they've simply adopted the attitude of, 'we should try and let's go as early as we can', because the price of it is not relevant," he stated.
Overly Optimistic
There are some in the tutoring industry who have similar reservations.
An education leader, head and founder of Blue Education, who also offer private tutors, commented that "the development of adopting dual cultures, or indeed, discovering oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not manufactured."
The expert wrote that he had emigrated from Asia to the UK at the time of 7 years old, and had been educated experiencing and embodying both cultures. He progressed to learn at Cambridge University.
"The notion that an individual can serve as a representation of UK identity, someone who can in some way transplant the characteristics of a British gentleman upon a infant child, appears optimistic and impractical," he wrote.
"In my experience, engaging a quintessentially UK tutor from early childhood will not automatically achieve the result they want.
"I never had such a figure, and yet I have been lucky enough to experience numerous of the situations they desire for their son."
He stated: "The fact is, cultural identity can not be imposed from the outside influences; it must be chosen, and it must be internally driven."
Acquiring Englishness
Of course, Britishness is something Adam believes can be instructed – and sold.
"I think the reality that the world holds us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
