"A household residing in the northern part of London wants to find an extraordinary and experienced educator to support their smallest child on his initial journey to becoming an English gentleman."
Upon seeing this post, you might easily miss the wording "first-steps" as mere a turn of phrase.
Yet, it may be the most important element of this unique position posting, as it aims to find a teacher for a 12-month-old.
Hundreds of applications have already been sent in since the anonymous family posted their request for the £180,000 per year tutor, who has to be "someone very special".
During the past few weeks, the advert has received attention throughout the press, with several wondering why?
Forward-Thinking Method
Adam Caller, head and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is assisting the family in their search, said that notwithstanding initial skepticism, he viewed the concept "visionary", and "innovative".
When he met the family, he said they understood the unconventional aspect of their requirement, and how early in age their son is.
Nevertheless, they clarified that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to get a tutor, as they had postponed until their elder sibling was five, and by that age "cultural conditioning had by then taken hold".
What precisely did the family indicate by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "comprehensive", Adam responded. "How you eat, how you speak".
He said the older sibling had absorbed "extremely delicate, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had assumed their cultural ways. The family informed him they wished to avoid this pattern to happen again with their infant.
The strategy: To hire a UK tutor, who needs to speak with RP, to guide the baby from day one.
Natural Absorption
"A great deal of the learning at the outset here is kind of osmotic," explained Adam.
It's through this natural absorption that the family are expecting the child will adopt the English characteristics they wish to cultivate.
Adam explained the tutor must be somebody who went to "the right kinds of schools – similar types of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The tutor must be the right kind of person, they'll be carrying out things they don't even know they're doing, simply by nature," he commented.
Money No Object
The family told Adam the chosen tutor should preferably also have knowledge of or passion in riding, winter sports, the arts and musical activities so as to shape the child in a broad spectrum of passions.
Additionally though, he said the family desired the tutor to sign up the child on a selection of classes so the child would be "horseback riding and starting an tool by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's perspective, guiding their son grow into a "British gentleman" will lead to success and provide access.
"Taking into account the pros and cons of that, because it's definitely a social class indicator," he comments.
However, despite all this instruction in "English culture", could the child pick up what is termed cultural bias from the multicultural family he resides with in any case?
"Certainly", said the CEO. "They know this could fail, but they've merely embraced the attitude of, 'let's give it a go and we'll proceed as soon as we can', because the price of it is not relevant," he stated.
Overly Optimistic
A number of in the tutoring industry who have those concerns.
An education leader, chief executive of Blue Education, who also offer individual instructors, wrote that "the journey of adopting dual cultures, or actually, becoming oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not designed."
Peter wrote that he had moved from Asia to the United Kingdom at the period of 7 years old, and had been educated experiencing and living two backgrounds. He continued to be educated at Cambridge University.
"The concept that an individual can serve as a representation of English culture, someone who can in some way transfer the qualities of a UK sophisticate upon a one-year-old child, appears optimistic and unrealistic," he commented.
"From my perspective, employing a quintessentially UK tutor from early childhood will does not instantly produce the result they desire.
"I did not have such a tutor, and however I have been fortunate enough to experience numerous of the opportunities they aspire for their son."
He stated: "The reality is, personal identity cannot be forced from the outside; it must be selected, and it must come from within."
Acquiring Englishness
Of course, UK identity is something the CEO hopes can be educated – and marketed.
"I think the situation that the international society regards us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
