"Parents based in north London wants to find an remarkable and skilled tutor to support their smallest child on his initial journey to growing into an British gentleman."
Upon seeing this listing, you might naturally overlook the wording "first-steps" as just an expression.
However, it might be the crucial element of this unique position posting, as it aims to hire a teacher for a 12-month-old.
Numerous of submissions have since been submitted since the unidentified family posted their search for the highly paid tutor, who has to be "a uniquely qualified person".
In recent few weeks, the listing has received attention throughout the news, with many wondering why?
Forward-Thinking Method
Adam Caller, head and founder of Tutors International, which is assisting the family in their hunt, stated that notwithstanding initial skepticism, he considered the plan "visionary", and "advanced".
When he consulted the family, he mentioned they understood the unconventional aspect of their request, and how early in age their son is.
But, they explained that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to get a tutor, as they had held off until their older child was five, and by that point "cultural bias had by then become established".
What precisely does the family refer to by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "everything", Adam responded. "How you eat, the manner you speak".
He stated the firstborn had absorbed "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 happen again with their infant.
The plan: To bring in a British tutor, who must speak with RP, to shape the baby from the very start.
Natural Absorption
"A great deal of the learning at the outset here is kind of osmotic," said the CEO.
It's by means of this natural absorption that the family are hoping the child will adopt the UK customs they want to cultivate.
Adam said the tutor needed to be somebody who studied at "prestigious academies – the same kinds of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The educator simply needs to be the right kind of person, they'll be carrying out things they don't even know they're doing, simply by nature," he said.
Money No Object
The family explained to the expert the selected educator should ideally also have familiarity of or passion in riding, skiing, artistic pursuits and musical activities so as to inspire the child in a wide range of interests.
More than that though, he said the family hoped the tutor to enrol the child on a variety of classes so the child would be "equestrian training and picking up an instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's perspective, helping their son grow into a "English gentleman" will bring about accomplishment and open doors.
"For all the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's undoubtedly a class statement," he notes.
However, in spite of all this instruction in "UK identity", might the child absorb alleged cultural influence from the multicultural family he lives with regardless?
"Yes", answered the CEO. "The parents understand this may not work, but they've merely embraced the attitude of, 'we should try and let's go as quickly as we can', because the price of it is not relevant," he explained.
Impractical
There are some in the private teaching field who express similar doubts.
Peter Cui, CEO and founder of a tutoring service, who supplies private tutors, wrote that "the development of embracing two identities, or indeed, becoming oneself, is something that must be grown into, not designed."
He wrote that he had relocated from China to the UK at the period of 7 years old, and had been brought up experiencing and living both cultures. He continued to learn at the University of Cambridge.
"The notion that an individual can function as a living vessel of UK identity, a person who can possibly transplant the attributes of a British gentleman to a 12-month-old child, appears idealistic and unrealistic," he wrote.
"In my experience, having a quintessentially British tutor from infancy will will not necessarily achieve the result they want.
"I never had that kind of mentor, and yet I have been privileged enough to enjoy many of the opportunities they desire for their son."
He stated: "The truth is, personal identity can not be imposed from the outside; it must be chosen, and it must be internally driven."
Acquiring Englishness
Naturally, English culture is something Adam thinks can be educated – and sold.
"I think the fact that the international society views us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
