"A household residing in north London wants to find an remarkable and experienced tutor to support their youngest child on his initial journey to becoming an British gentleman."
When reading this advertisement, you might naturally miss the phrase "first-steps" as just a turn of phrase.
Yet, it might be the most significant aspect of this unusual employment listing, as it attempts to recruit a tutor for a one-year-old.
Hundreds of applications have now been received since the unidentified family posted their call for the highly paid tutor, who must be "someone very special".
In recent few weeks, the advert has gained notice throughout the press, with many asking why?
Innovative Idea
A tutoring expert, head and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is supporting the family in their quest, stated that despite initial doubt, he found the idea "forward-looking", and "advanced".
When he spoke with the family, he noted they appreciated the atypical nature of their request, and how young their son is.
However, they stated that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to get a tutor, as they had held off until their elder sibling was five, and by that point "cultural bias had by then become established".
What exactly did the family mean by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "all-encompassing", the expert responded. "How you eat, the manner you speak".
He said the elder child had adopted "really subtle, body language" from the family, and had taken on their cultural ways. The family informed Adam they hoped to prevent this pattern to happen again with their infant.
The strategy: To engage a English tutor, who should speak with RP, to influence the baby right from the beginning.
Osmotic Learning
"Much of the education at the beginning here is somewhat osmotic," stated Adam.
It's by means of this osmosis that the family are hoping the child will pick up the English characteristics they wish to instil.
He noted the tutor needed to be someone who went to "the right kinds of schools – the same kinds of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The tutor must be the appropriate candidate, they'll be carrying out things they aren't even aware they're doing, simply by nature," he added.
Money No Object
The family explained to the expert the selected educator should preferably also have familiarity of or interest in riding, winter sports, creative fields and music so as to influence the child in a diverse set of interests.
More than that though, he said the family wanted the tutor to enrol the child on a selection of lessons so the child would be "equestrian training and picking up an tool by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's minds, guiding their son become a "UK sophisticate" will lead to accomplishment and open doors.
"Taking into account the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's definitely a social class indicator," he adds.
Yet, notwithstanding all this guidance in "English culture", could the child adopt alleged cultural influence from the multicultural family he resides with regardless?
"Certainly", said he. "The family understand this may not work, but they've simply adopted the attitude of, 'why not attempt it and we should start as early as we can', because the cost of it is not a concern," he explained.
Overly Optimistic
Several in the education sector who express similar doubts.
Another CEO, head and founder of Blue Education, who provides private tutors, commented that "the process of adopting dual cultures, or indeed, forming one's identity, is something that must be experienced personally, not engineered."
Peter wrote that he had moved from China to the UK at the age of seven, and had been brought up experiencing and practicing both cultures. He progressed to learn at the University of Cambridge.
"The idea that a single person can serve as a representation of UK identity, a person who can somehow transplant the attributes of a UK sophisticate to a infant child, seems to me optimistic and unrealistic," he commented.
"In my experience, engaging a quintessentially British tutor from early childhood will does not instantly create the result they desire.
"I wasn't provided with that kind of mentor, and yet I have been privileged enough to enjoy numerous of the experiences they hope for their son."
He added: "The truth is, cultural identity cannot be imposed from the outside; it must be chosen, and it must come from within."
Acquiring Englishness
Certainly, English culture is something the CEO thinks can be taught – and sold.
"In my view the situation that the world regards us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
