"A family residing in north London wants to find an extraordinary and skilled instructor to assist their smallest child on his initial journey to becoming an British gentleman."
When reading this advertisement, you might readily miss the phrase "first-steps" as just an expression.
But, it could be the most important part of this unusual employment listing, as it seeks to recruit a tutor for a infant.
Many of responses have already been submitted since the anonymous family published their request for the £180,000 per year tutor, who must be "a uniquely qualified person".
During the past few weeks, the post has received interest throughout the press, with several wondering why?
Forward-Thinking Method
A tutoring expert, chief executive of an education consultancy, which is assisting the family in their search, said that notwithstanding early scepticism, he viewed the plan "visionary", and "advanced".
When he met the family, he noted they recognized the unconventional nature of their requirement, and how immature their son is.
However, they explained that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to get a tutor, as they had waited until their firstborn was five, and by that point "cultural bias had by then taken hold".
What exactly does the family mean by "cultural leaning"?
It's "all-encompassing", he responded. "How you eat, the manner you speak".
He explained the elder child had picked up "very nuanced, unspoken signals" from the family, and had taken on their cultural norms. The family informed the consultant they hoped to prevent this pattern to repeat itself with their new baby.
The intention: To engage a UK tutor, who needs to speak with Received Pronunciation, to influence the baby from the very start.
Osmotic Learning
"Much of the development at the start here is rather absorbed naturally," said Adam.
It's by means of this natural absorption that the family are aiming the child will acquire the English characteristics they aim to cultivate.
He noted the tutor had to be an individual who went to "the appropriate educational institutions – comparable categories of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The educator just has to be the right kind of person, they'll be doing things they aren't even aware they're doing, just naturally," he said.
Money No Object
The family told the expert the selected educator should preferably also have understanding of or passion in horse riding, alpine skiing, artistic pursuits and music so as to shape the child in a diverse set of interests.
Additionally though, he stated the family desired the tutor to register the child on a variety of lessons so the child would be "pony-riding and learning an instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's minds, assisting their son develop into a "UK sophisticate" will lead to achievement and create opportunities.
"Taking into account the pros and cons of that, because it's definitely a status symbol," he notes.
However, in spite of all this guidance in "English culture", could the child adopt so-called cultural bias from the globally influenced family he is raised by anyway?
"Yes", answered Adam. "The family realize this might not succeed, but they've merely embraced the view of, 'let's give it a go and let's go as quickly as we can', because the cost of it is irrelevant," he stated.
Overly Optimistic
Several in the education sector who express those doubts.
Another CEO, chief executive of an educational organization, who provides personal educators, wrote that "the journey of adopting dual cultures, or in fact, discovering oneself, is something that must be lived into, not engineered."
Peter wrote that he had relocated from Asia to the United Kingdom at the period of seven, and had been brought up knowing and practicing two backgrounds. He continued to learn at the University of Cambridge.
"The concept that a single person can act as a living vessel of English culture, a person who can possibly transfer the qualities of a English gentleman onto a 12-month-old child, seems to me optimistic and impractical," he commented.
"In my experience, having a typically English tutor from early childhood will not necessarily produce the goal they want.
"I did not have such a figure, and nevertheless I have been privileged enough to experience numerous of the opportunities they aspire for their son."
He continued: "The fact is, cultural identity should not be forced from the outside; it must be chosen, and it must come from within."
Acquiring Englishness
Certainly, English culture is something the CEO hopes can be educated – and marketed.
"I believe the fact that the global community regards us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
