"A family based in North London seeks an exceptional and skilled educator to support their smallest child on his initial journey to becoming an British gentleman."
Looking at this listing, you might naturally miss the term "first-steps" as simple figurative language.
Yet, it might be the crucial part of this unique position posting, as it seeks to hire a teacher for a infant.
Numerous of submissions have already been received since the anonymous family published their call for the highly paid tutor, who needs to be "someone very special".
Over the last few weeks, the listing has attracted attention throughout the media, with many questioning why?
Forward-Thinking Method
A tutoring expert, head and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is helping the family in their quest, stated that notwithstanding early scepticism, he considered the plan "far sighted", and "advanced".
When he spoke with the family, he mentioned they understood the unusual nature of their request, and how young their son is.
Nevertheless, they clarified 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 already taken hold".
But what does the family refer to by "cultural bias"?
It's "all-encompassing", the expert responded. "How 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 norms. The family informed the consultant they hoped to prevent this pattern to happen again with their infant.
The intention: To engage a British tutor, who should speak with standard English accent, to shape the baby from the very start.
Subtle Influence
"A lot of the development at the start here is somewhat acquired indirectly," explained the CEO.
It's via this osmosis that the family are expecting the child will adopt the English characteristics they want to impart.
Adam said the tutor needed to be an individual who attended "prestigious academies – the same kinds of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The tutor just has to be the right kind of person, they'll be carrying out things they aren't even aware they're doing, just naturally," he commented.
Expense Not a Factor
The family told Adam the chosen tutor should ideally also have familiarity of or interest in riding, skiing, the arts and music so as to influence the child in a diverse set of interests.
More than that though, he stated the family desired the tutor to register the child on a selection of lessons so the child would be "equestrian training and starting an musical instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's perspective, helping their son grow into a "British gentleman" will lead to success and open doors.
"For all the rights and wrongs of that, because it's definitely a social class indicator," he adds.
Yet, in spite of all this guidance in "English culture", would the child absorb so-called cultural influence from the globally influenced family he resides with anyway?
"Certainly", replied the CEO. "The family realize this might not succeed, but they've just taken the view of, 'why not attempt it 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 education sector who have similar concerns.
An education leader, head and founder of Blue Education, who also offer private tutors, stated that "the development of becoming bicultural, or in fact, forming one's identity, is something that must be lived into, not manufactured."
Peter noted that he had relocated from China to the United Kingdom at the period of 7 years old, and had been educated experiencing and embodying dual heritages. He continued to be educated at a prestigious UK institution.
"The idea that a single person can act as a embodiment of Britishness, someone who can somehow transplant the qualities of a UK sophisticate onto a one-year-old child, strikes me as idealistic and unfeasible," he stated.
"In my experience, employing a quintessentially UK tutor from babyhood will will not instantly create the goal they want.
"I did not have such a figure, and however I have been fortunate enough to live several of the opportunities they aspire for their son."
He continued: "The truth is, personal identity should not be forced from the outside; it must be chosen, and it must come from within."
Purchasing UK Culture
Of course, UK identity is something the expert thinks can be educated – and sold.
"In my view the fact that the global community regards us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
