"A family based in the northern part of London wants to find an extraordinary and qualified educator to support their smallest child on his early path to growing into an British gentleman."
When reading this listing, you might easily skip the term "first-steps" as simple a turn of phrase.
Yet, it could be the most significant element of this distinctive position posting, as it seeks to recruit a tutor for a infant.
Hundreds of responses have now been received since the unnamed family advertised their search for the £180k-a-year tutor, who has to be "an exceptional individual".
In recent few weeks, the post has gained notice throughout the media, with many questioning why?
Forward-Thinking Method
A tutoring expert, chief executive of a global tutoring firm, which is supporting the family in their quest, stated that notwithstanding initial scepticism, he viewed the plan "far sighted", and "advanced".
When he consulted the family, he mentioned they recognized the atypical nature of their demand, and how early in age 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 older child was five, and by that stage "cultural conditioning had already set in".
What exactly does the family refer to by "cultural bias"?
It's "all-encompassing", he replied. "The way you eat, how you speak".
He stated the elder child had picked up "really subtle, unspoken signals" from the family, and had adopted their cultural ways. The family explained to him they did not want this pattern to happen again with their infant.
The strategy: To engage a UK tutor, who should speak with standard English accent, to influence the baby from the very start.
Natural Absorption
"A great deal of the education at the start here is rather osmotic," stated the CEO.
It's via this osmosis that the family are aiming the child will acquire the British traits they wish to impart.
Adam noted the tutor had to be an individual who attended "the right kinds of schools – comparable categories of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The tutor simply needs to be the right kind of person, they'll be performing things they aren't even aware they're doing, just naturally," he commented.
Expense Not a Factor
The family informed the expert the chosen tutor should ideally also have knowledge of or passion in equestrian activities, alpine skiing, creative fields and musical activities so as to influence the child in a diverse set of interests.
Furthermore though, he said the family hoped the tutor to sign up the child on a range of lessons so the child would be "equestrian training and learning an musical instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's perspective, guiding their son develop into a "British gentleman" will bring about accomplishment and open doors.
"For all the rights and wrongs of that, because it's definitely a class statement," he comments.
However, notwithstanding all this instruction in "UK identity", might the child pick up what is termed cultural influence from the international family he resides with regardless?
"Absolutely", said he. "They realize this may not work, but they've just taken the attitude of, 'why not attempt it and we should start as quickly as we can', because the expense of it is irrelevant," he said.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
There are some in the education sector who express similar concerns.
Another CEO, head and founder of an educational organization, who also offer individual instructors, stated that "the journey of embracing two identities, or in fact, discovering oneself, is something that must be grown into, not designed."
He noted that he had moved from Asia to the United Kingdom at the time of childhood, and had been raised understanding and living dual heritages. He went on to be educated at Cambridge University.
"The notion that a single person can function as a representation of Britishness, someone who can somehow impart the attributes of a UK sophisticate to a 12-month-old child, seems to me optimistic and unfeasible," he commented.
"From my perspective, having a typically British tutor from infancy will does not automatically produce the goal they hope for.
"I wasn't provided with such a tutor, and yet I have been privileged enough to live numerous of the opportunities they hope for their son."
He stated: "The truth is, cultural identity should not be forced from the outside influences; it must be embraced, and it must originate internally."
Acquiring Englishness
Of course, UK identity is something the expert thinks can be educated – and marketed.
"I think the reality that the world views us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
