"A family located in the northern part of London seeks an exceptional and experienced tutor to guide their most junior child on his early path to becoming an English gentleman."
When reading this advertisement, you might easily overlook the phrase "first-steps" as mere a turn of phrase.
Yet, it could be the most important element of this distinctive employment listing, as it seeks to recruit a teacher for a one-year-old.
Many of responses have now been submitted since the unidentified family posted their request for the £180k-a-year tutor, who must be "someone very special".
In recent few weeks, the advert has received notice throughout the news, with several asking why?
Forward-Thinking Method
Adam Caller, CEO and founder of Tutors International, which is helping the family in their quest, explained that despite initial skepticism, he found the plan "far sighted", and "innovative".
When he consulted the family, he mentioned they understood the unconventional nature of their request, and how immature their son is.
Nevertheless, they stated that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had held off until their elder sibling was five, and by that stage "cultural influence had by then become established".
What precisely does the family indicate by "cultural bias"?
It's "all-encompassing", the expert responded. "How you eat, the manner you speak".
He explained the older sibling had adopted "extremely delicate, unspoken signals" from the family, and had adopted their cultural norms. The family told the consultant they hoped to prevent history to recur with their infant.
The strategy: To bring in a English tutor, who must speak with Received Pronunciation, to shape the baby right from the beginning.
Osmotic Learning
"A lot of the education at the start here is rather acquired indirectly," said the expert.
It's through this natural absorption that the family are hoping the child will adopt the UK customs they wish to impart.
He said the tutor had to be someone who went to "the right kinds of schools – comparable categories of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The instructor just has to be the suitable individual, they'll be carrying out things they may not realize they're doing, simply by nature," he said.
Expense Not a Factor
The family told the expert the chosen tutor should ideally also have understanding of or interest in riding, winter sports, the arts and musical activities so as to shape the child in a diverse set of passions.
More than that though, he explained the family wanted the tutor to sign up the child on a range of courses so the child would be "horseback riding and picking up an instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's view, assisting their son develop into a "English gentleman" will bring about achievement and create opportunities.
"Taking into account the rights and wrongs of that, because it's undoubtedly a class statement," he comments.
However, notwithstanding all this tutelage in "English culture", might the child adopt what is termed cultural influence from the multicultural family he lives with in any case?
"Certainly", said Adam. "They realize this might not succeed, but they've just taken the attitude of, 'let's give it a go and we'll proceed as early as we can', because the expense of it is not a concern," he said.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
There are some in the tutoring industry who express these doubts.
Another CEO, CEO and founder of an educational organization, who supplies personal educators, stated that "the process of embracing two identities, or indeed, discovering oneself, is something that must be lived into, not engineered."
Peter wrote that he had moved from the Far East to the UK at the time of 7 years old, and had been brought up experiencing and practicing both cultures. He progressed to be educated at a prestigious UK institution.
"The idea that an individual can serve as a embodiment of English culture, a person who can somehow impart the characteristics of a UK sophisticate onto a one-year-old child, seems to me naive and unrealistic," he commented.
"In my experience, having a quintessentially English tutor from babyhood will not automatically create the outcome they desire.
"I never had such a figure, and however I have been lucky enough to enjoy several of the situations they aspire for their son."
He stated: "The fact is, self-identity can not be imposed from the outside influences; it must be selected, and it must come from within."
Purchasing UK Culture
Naturally, Britishness is something the CEO thinks can be taught – and commercialized.
"In my view the fact that the international society holds us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
