"A household based in North London wants to find an remarkable and skilled instructor to support their most junior child on his initial journey to becoming an British gentleman."
When reading this listing, you might easily skip the phrase "first-steps" as mere an expression.
Yet, it may be the most significant aspect of this unique position posting, as it aims to hire a teacher for a infant.
Hundreds of responses have now been received since the unnamed family advertised their search for the highly paid tutor, who must be "someone very special".
During the past few weeks, the listing has attracted attention in the news, with numerous wondering why?
Forward-Thinking Method
A tutoring expert, CEO and founder of Tutors International, which is supporting the family in their search, explained that despite initial scepticism, he viewed the plan "far sighted", and "progressive".
When he consulted the family, he said they appreciated the unusual aspect of their requirement, and how immature their son is.
But, they clarified that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to get a tutor, as they had postponed until their older child was five, and by that point "cultural conditioning had already set in".
But what does the family indicate by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "all-encompassing", he replied. "How you eat, the manner you speak".
He said the older sibling had picked up "really subtle, unspoken signals" from the family, and had taken on their cultural habits. The family explained to him they wished to avoid this pattern to happen again with their younger child.
The strategy: To engage a English tutor, who should speak with RP, to influence the baby from the very start.
Subtle Influence
"Much of the development at the outset here is kind of osmotic," said the CEO.
It's through this osmosis that the family are hoping the child will acquire the English characteristics they aim to instil.
He said the tutor needed to be someone who studied at "prestigious academies – the same kinds of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The tutor just has to be the suitable individual, they'll be carrying out things they don't even know they're doing, effortlessly," he added.
Cost Not Relevant
The family informed the expert the successful candidate should preferably also have familiarity of or interest in riding, alpine skiing, artistic pursuits and musical activities so as to inspire the child in a broad spectrum of interests.
Furthermore though, he stated the family wanted the tutor to sign up the child on a range of classes so the child would be "horseback riding and learning an tool by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's perspective, helping their son develop into a "British gentleman" will result in success and open doors.
"Taking into account the rights and wrongs of that, because it's undoubtedly a class statement," he adds.
However, in spite of all this tutelage in "Britishness", might the child adopt what is termed cultural leaning from the multicultural family he resides with anyway?
"Yes", answered he. "They understand this may not work, but they've just taken the perspective of, 'we should try and let's go as soon as we can', because the price of it is irrelevant," he stated.
Overly Optimistic
There are some in the tutoring industry who have those concerns.
An education leader, head and founder of a tutoring service, who provides individual instructors, commented that "the development of becoming bicultural, or actually, discovering oneself, is something that must be grown into, not engineered."
The expert noted that he had moved from the Far East to the Britain at the age of childhood, and had been educated experiencing and practicing dual heritages. He continued to study at the University of Cambridge.
"The concept that one individual can serve as a embodiment of Britishness, someone who can somehow transplant the attributes of a UK sophisticate upon a infant child, strikes me as naive and impractical," he wrote.
"From my perspective, employing a typically UK tutor from babyhood will will not instantly create the outcome they desire.
"I never had that kind of mentor, and nevertheless I have been lucky enough to enjoy several of the experiences they desire for their son."
He added: "The fact is, personal identity should not be forced from the outside; it must be embraced, and it must originate internally."
Purchasing UK Culture
Naturally, UK identity is something Adam believes can be taught – and commercialized.
"In my view the fact that the global community holds us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
