"A family based in north London wants to find an remarkable and qualified instructor to assist their youngest child on his early path to growing into an English gentleman."
Upon seeing this listing, you might easily overlook the wording "first-steps" as mere a turn of phrase.
However, it may be the crucial element of this unusual employment listing, as it aims to recruit a teacher for a 12-month-old.
Numerous of responses have since been sent in since the unnamed family posted their search for the highly paid tutor, who needs to be "a uniquely qualified person".
During the past few weeks, the advert has attracted interest in the media, with several questioning why?
Progressive Approach
Adam Caller, chief executive of an education consultancy, which is supporting the family in their hunt, said that in spite of early skepticism, he found the plan "far sighted", and "progressive".
When he spoke with the family, he said they appreciated the atypical nature of their request, and how immature their son is.
Nevertheless, they explained that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to get a tutor, as they had postponed until their elder sibling was five, and by that stage "cultural influence had already taken hold".
What exactly did the family refer to by "cultural leaning"?
It's "everything", he answered. "The manner you eat, the manner you speak".
He stated the older sibling had adopted "very nuanced, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had taken on their cultural norms. The family explained to the consultant they hoped to prevent this pattern to recur with their infant.
The intention: To bring in a English tutor, who must speak with Received Pronunciation, to shape the baby from the very start.
Natural Absorption
"A great deal of the learning at the beginning here is kind of absorbed naturally," said the CEO.
It's by means of this osmosis that the family are aiming the child will pick up the English characteristics they wish to impart.
The consultant said the tutor must be somebody who studied at "prestigious academies – similar types of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The educator just has to be the right kind of person, they'll be performing things they don't even know they're doing, just naturally," he said.
Cost Not Relevant
The family told him the chosen tutor should ideally also have familiarity of or interest in horse riding, winter sports, artistic pursuits and instrumental training so as to inspire the child in a diverse set of passions.
Furthermore though, he explained the family desired the tutor to register the child on a range of courses so the child would be "pony-riding and picking up an tool by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's minds, assisting their son develop into a "English gentleman" will lead to achievement and provide access.
"For all the rights and wrongs of that, because it's certainly a status symbol," he notes.
But, notwithstanding all this instruction in "UK identity", could the child pick up so-called cultural leaning from the multicultural family he resides with regardless?
"Yes", said the CEO. "The parents realize this might not succeed, but they've simply adopted the view of, 'let's give it a go and we should start as quickly as we can', because the expense of it is irrelevant," he said.
Overly Optimistic
A number of in the tutoring industry who share those reservations.
Another CEO, head and founder of a tutoring service, who supplies personal educators, commented that "the journey of adopting dual cultures, 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 seven, and had been educated understanding and practicing two backgrounds. He went on to be educated at the University of Cambridge.
"The concept that an individual can act as a embodiment of UK identity, an individual who can somehow impart the characteristics of a English gentleman to a 12-month-old child, seems to me optimistic and impractical," he commented.
"In my experience, engaging a quintessentially UK tutor from babyhood will will not instantly achieve the goal they desire.
"I never had such a tutor, and nevertheless I have been privileged enough to live many of the opportunities they hope for their son."
He stated: "The reality is, personal identity cannot be dictated from the outside influences; it must be embraced, and it must be internally driven."
Purchasing UK Culture
Of course, UK identity is something the expert hopes can be educated – and commercialized.
"In my view the fact that the world views us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
