"Parents located in North London seeks an remarkable and experienced tutor to guide their smallest child on his early path to growing into an British gentleman."
Looking at this listing, you might readily skip the term "first-steps" as simple an expression.
Yet, it may be the most important part of this unusual job advert, as it aims to recruit a mentor for a one-year-old.
Many of applications have already been received since the anonymous family published their request for the £180k-a-year tutor, who has to be "an exceptional individual".
In recent few weeks, the listing has received interest throughout the press, with several questioning why?
Forward-Thinking Method
The CEO, chief executive of an education consultancy, which is supporting the family in their search, said that despite first scepticism, he viewed the plan "forward-looking", and "progressive".
When he spoke with the family, he mentioned they understood the atypical aspect of their demand, and how early in age their son is.
But, they clarified that they "preferred not to postpone 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 mean by "cultural leaning"?
It's "comprehensive", the expert answered. "The way you eat, the way you speak".
He stated the older sibling had picked up "very nuanced, unspoken signals" from the family, and had adopted their cultural ways. The family told Adam they did not want the same situation to repeat itself with their new baby.
The plan: To bring in a English tutor, who must speak with standard English accent, to influence the baby right from the beginning.
Natural Absorption
"Much of the learning at the beginning here is somewhat acquired indirectly," said the CEO.
It's via this natural absorption that the family are aiming the child will acquire the English characteristics they wish to instil.
The consultant said the tutor must be somebody who attended "the right kinds of schools – similar types of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The instructor just has to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be carrying out things they aren't even aware they're doing, effortlessly," he said.
Money No Object
The family told the expert the selected educator should ideally also have familiarity of or enthusiasm in equestrian activities, winter sports, the arts and instrumental training so as to inspire the child in a broad spectrum of passions.
More than that though, he stated the family hoped the tutor to sign up the child on a variety of courses so the child would be "pony-riding and learning an tool by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's perspective, guiding their son become a "English gentleman" will result in success and open doors.
"For all the rights and wrongs of that, because it's undoubtedly a class statement," he adds.
However, despite all this instruction in "English culture", could the child absorb so-called cultural influence from the international family he resides with in any case?
"Yes", answered the CEO. "The parents realize this could fail, but they've just taken the perspective of, 'we should try and we should start as early as we can', because the price of it is irrelevant," he explained.
Impractical
A number of in the private teaching field who share those reservations.
An education leader, chief executive of an educational organization, who provides personal educators, commented that "the development of adopting dual cultures, or actually, becoming oneself, is something that must be grown into, not engineered."
The expert explained that he had moved from China to the Britain at the time of childhood, and had been brought up experiencing and practicing both cultures. He went on to learn at the University of Cambridge.
"The concept that an individual can function as a embodiment of UK identity, a person who can in some way impart the attributes of a British gentleman to a infant child, appears idealistic and unfeasible," he commented.
"Based on my background, employing a distinctly UK tutor from early childhood will will not necessarily achieve the goal they desire.
"I wasn't provided with that kind of mentor, and yet I have been lucky enough to experience many of the experiences they hope for their son."
He stated: "The truth is, self-identity can not be dictated from the outside; it must be embraced, and it must originate internally."
Purchasing UK Culture
Certainly, Britishness is something the CEO believes can be taught – and sold.
"I think the situation that the global community views us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
