"A family residing in north London wants to find an remarkable and skilled instructor to assist their most junior child on his early path to becoming an English gentleman."
Looking at this advertisement, you might easily miss the term "first-steps" as just a turn of phrase.
But, it could be the most significant aspect of this unique job advert, as it attempts to recruit a mentor for a infant.
Numerous of submissions have since been submitted since the unidentified family advertised their search for the £180,000 per year tutor, who has to be "someone very special".
In recent few weeks, the advert has received attention in the news, with many asking why?
Innovative Idea
Adam Caller, CEO and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is helping the family in their search, said that despite initial skepticism, he found the idea "forward-looking", and "advanced".
When he consulted the family, he mentioned they recognized the unconventional aspect of their request, and how young their son is.
Nevertheless, they stated that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to get a tutor, as they had waited until their elder sibling was five, and by that age "cultural influence had already become established".
What exactly did the family indicate by "cultural leaning"?
It's "everything", he responded. "How you eat, the way you speak".
He said the elder child had absorbed "extremely delicate, unspoken signals" from the family, and had assumed their cultural norms. The family explained to Adam they hoped to prevent history to recur with their infant.
The strategy: To hire a British tutor, who should speak with standard English accent, to influence the baby from the very start.
Osmotic Learning
"A lot of the development at the beginning here is rather osmotic," stated the expert.
It's by means of this subtle influence that the family are hoping the child will acquire the UK customs they aim to instil.
The consultant noted the tutor needed to be an individual who went to "prestigious academies – similar types of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The tutor simply needs to be the suitable individual, they'll be carrying out things they don't even know they're doing, simply by nature," he said.
Money No Object
The family told the expert the chosen tutor should ideally also have familiarity of or interest in riding, alpine skiing, artistic pursuits and music so as to inspire the child in a diverse set of interests.
More than that though, he said the family hoped the tutor to enrol the child on a variety of courses so the child would be "horseback riding and learning an musical instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's perspective, helping their son become a "English gentleman" will lead to accomplishment and provide access.
"For all the rights and wrongs of that, because it's definitely a status symbol," he adds.
But, despite all this guidance in "Britishness", would the child adopt alleged cultural bias from the multicultural family he is raised by in any case?
"Absolutely", replied the CEO. "The parents understand this may not work, but they've merely embraced the attitude of, 'why not attempt it and we'll proceed as soon as we can', because the price of it is not relevant," he explained.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
Several in the private teaching field who share these doubts.
Peter Cui, CEO and founder of an educational organization, who also offer private tutors, wrote that "the development of becoming bicultural, or indeed, forming one's identity, is something that must be lived into, not engineered."
He wrote that he had moved from China to the UK at the age of seven, and had been raised understanding and embodying dual heritages. He went on to be educated at a prestigious UK institution.
"The idea that one individual can function as a representation of English culture, someone who can somehow impart the characteristics of a English gentleman onto a infant child, seems to me optimistic and unrealistic," he commented.
"From my perspective, having a distinctly UK tutor from early childhood will will not instantly achieve the goal they want.
"I never had such a figure, and yet I have been fortunate enough to experience many of the experiences they aspire for their son."
He stated: "The reality is, cultural identity cannot be dictated from the external environment; it must be chosen, and it must be internally driven."
Acquiring Englishness
Of course, Britishness is something the CEO believes can be educated – and commercialized.
"In my view the situation that the world holds us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
