"Parents based in north London is looking for an exceptional and experienced educator to support their most junior child on his initial journey to becoming an English gentleman."
When reading this listing, you might easily skip the phrase "first-steps" as mere figurative language.
Yet, it might be the most important element of this distinctive job advert, as it aims to recruit a tutor for a infant.
Numerous of responses have now been received since the anonymous family posted their call for the highly paid tutor, who must be "a uniquely qualified person".
In recent few weeks, the listing has attracted notice across the press, with many wondering why?
Forward-Thinking Method
Adam Caller, CEO and founder of an education consultancy, which is assisting the family in their quest, stated that despite first skepticism, he viewed the idea "forward-looking", and "advanced".
When he met the family, he said they appreciated the atypical character of their request, and how immature their son is.
Nevertheless, they explained that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to get a tutor, as they had waited until their elder sibling was five, and by that stage "cultural influence had by then set in".
What precisely does the family indicate by "cultural bias"?
It's "comprehensive", the expert responded. "How you eat, how you speak".
He stated the older sibling had absorbed "very nuanced, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had taken on their cultural ways. The family informed the consultant they did not want history to happen again with their infant.
The intention: To engage a UK tutor, who must speak with standard English accent, to influence the baby right from the beginning.
Natural Absorption
"A great deal of the education at the start here is rather osmotic," stated Adam.
It's through this osmosis that the family are aiming the child will acquire the English characteristics they aim to instil.
Adam noted the tutor had to be somebody who attended "prestigious academies – similar types of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The instructor simply needs to be the suitable individual, they'll be performing things they may not realize they're doing, effortlessly," he said.
Cost Not Relevant
The family informed Adam the chosen tutor should preferably also have knowledge of or interest in riding, skiing, artistic pursuits and musical activities so as to influence the child in a diverse set of interests.
Additionally though, he said the family wanted the tutor to sign up the child on a variety of lessons so the child would be "horseback riding and picking up an instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's view, guiding their son grow into a "English gentleman" will result in success and open doors.
"For all the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's undoubtedly a class statement," he notes.
But, despite all this tutelage in "UK identity", could the child adopt so-called cultural leaning from the multicultural family he resides with regardless?
"Absolutely", replied he. "The family know this may not work, but they've just taken the attitude of, 'let's give it a go and we'll proceed as quickly as we can', because the price of it is irrelevant," he said.
Impractical
A number of in the education sector who share these reservations.
Peter Cui, head and founder of Blue Education, who also offer private tutors, stated that "the development of becoming bicultural, or actually, discovering oneself, is something that must be grown into, not manufactured."
He explained that he had relocated from the Far East to the UK at the age of 7 years old, and had been educated knowing and practicing both cultures. He went on to study at Cambridge University.
"The idea that a single person can act as a living vessel of Britishness, someone who can somehow transfer the qualities of a British gentleman to a 12-month-old child, appears naive and unrealistic," he wrote.
"In my experience, having a typically UK tutor from early childhood will will not automatically create the result they desire.
"I wasn't provided with such a figure, and however I have been fortunate enough to enjoy many of the experiences they hope for their son."
He continued: "The fact is, self-identity cannot be imposed from the outside; it must be chosen, and it must come from within."
Acquiring Englishness
Of course, UK identity is something the expert thinks can be educated – and sold.
"I believe the reality that the global community regards us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
