"Parents based in north London is looking for an exceptional and skilled educator to guide their smallest child on his early path to turning into an English gentleman."
Upon seeing this advertisement, you might naturally skip the phrase "first-steps" as just figurative language.
However, it may be the most significant aspect of this unusual employment listing, as it attempts to find a teacher for a 12-month-old.
Many of applications have since been submitted since the unnamed family advertised their call for the highly paid tutor, who has to be "an exceptional individual".
During the past few weeks, the advert has gained interest across the media, with numerous asking why?
Innovative Idea
A tutoring expert, CEO and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is supporting the family in their hunt, stated that in spite of initial skepticism, he viewed the idea "forward-looking", and "innovative".
When he spoke with the family, he said they appreciated the atypical nature of their demand, and how early in age their son is.
However, they explained that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had waited until their elder sibling was five, and by that point "cultural conditioning had by then become established".
What precisely does the family mean by "cultural bias"?
It's "all-encompassing", the expert replied. "The manner you eat, how you speak".
He said the older sibling had picked up "extremely delicate, unspoken signals" from the family, and had taken on their cultural habits. The family told the consultant they wished to avoid this pattern to repeat itself with their younger child.
The strategy: To hire a British tutor, who should speak with RP, to influence the baby from day one.
Natural Absorption
"Much of the learning at the beginning here is kind of absorbed naturally," explained Adam.
It's by means of this subtle influence that the family are hoping the child will pick up the British traits they want to instil.
Adam noted the tutor had to be somebody who went to "prestigious academies – similar types of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The instructor just has to be the right kind of person, they'll be doing things they don't even know they're doing, effortlessly," he commented.
Expense Not a Factor
The family informed the expert the successful candidate should preferably also have understanding of or interest in horse riding, winter sports, the arts and instrumental training so as to inspire the child in a wide range of interests.
More than that though, he said the family wanted the tutor to sign up the child on a variety of lessons so the child would be "horseback riding and starting an musical instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's perspective, assisting their son become a "English gentleman" will lead to achievement and create opportunities.
"Considering the pros and cons of that, because it's definitely a social class indicator," he notes.
But, notwithstanding all this tutelage in "UK identity", could the child pick up so-called cultural bias from the international family he is raised by anyway?
"Certainly", answered Adam. "They know this might not succeed, but they've simply adopted the view of, 'let's give it a go and we should start as early as we can', because the cost of it is not a concern," he explained.
Impractical
Several in the education sector who share these reservations.
Peter Cui, head and founder of Blue Education, who also offer individual instructors, stated that "the development of adopting dual cultures, or in fact, becoming oneself, is something that must be lived into, not designed."
The expert noted that he had relocated from China to the UK at the period of childhood, and had been raised experiencing and embodying both cultures. He progressed to be educated at Cambridge University.
"The notion that an individual can act as a living vessel of English culture, a person who can in some way transfer the characteristics of a English gentleman onto a 12-month-old child, seems to me naive and impractical," he commented.
"In my experience, having a typically UK tutor from early childhood will will not necessarily achieve the outcome they hope for.
"I wasn't provided with such a tutor, and however I have been privileged enough to enjoy numerous of the situations they desire for their son."
He continued: "The fact is, self-identity can not be forced from the outside influences; it must be selected, and it must come from within."
Purchasing UK Culture
Naturally, English culture is something Adam hopes can be educated – and sold.
"I believe the reality that the global community regards us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
