"A family residing in the northern part of London wants to find an exceptional and skilled tutor to assist their youngest child on his early path to growing into an English gentleman."
Upon seeing this advertisement, you might naturally skip the term "first-steps" as simple an expression.
However, it may be the most important part of this unique position posting, as it attempts to find a teacher for a 12-month-old.
Hundreds of submissions have already been received since the unidentified family published their search for the £180,000 per year tutor, who has to be "someone very special".
In recent few weeks, the advert has received interest throughout the news, with many questioning why?
Forward-Thinking Method
A tutoring expert, CEO and founder of an education consultancy, which is helping the family in their search, explained that notwithstanding first doubt, he found the concept "forward-looking", and "advanced".
When he met the family, he mentioned they recognized the unconventional nature of their demand, and how young their son is.
However, they explained that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had held off until their elder sibling was five, and by that age "cultural conditioning had already become established".
What precisely did the family indicate by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "comprehensive", the expert responded. "How you eat, the manner you speak".
He stated the elder child had picked up "very nuanced, unspoken signals" from the family, and had assumed their cultural habits. The family explained to him they hoped to prevent the same situation to happen again with their new baby.
The plan: To hire a British tutor, who must speak with RP, to guide the baby right from the beginning.
Subtle Influence
"Much of the education at the outset here is rather absorbed naturally," explained the CEO.
It's through this subtle influence that the family are expecting the child will acquire the British traits they wish to impart.
The consultant said the tutor had to be somebody who went to "the right kinds of schools – the same kinds of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The educator just has to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be carrying out things they may not realize they're doing, effortlessly," he commented.
Cost Not Relevant
The family informed him the successful candidate should preferably also have familiarity of or passion in riding, winter sports, the arts and instrumental training so as to inspire the child in a wide range of interests.
Furthermore though, he explained the family wanted the tutor to sign up the child on a selection of courses so the child would be "pony-riding and learning an musical instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's minds, assisting their son become a "UK sophisticate" will bring about achievement and create opportunities.
"Taking into account the rights and wrongs of that, because it's undoubtedly a social class indicator," he comments.
However, in spite of all this tutelage in "Britishness", could the child pick up alleged cultural leaning from the multicultural family he resides with anyway?
"Absolutely", replied the CEO. "The parents realize this might not succeed, but they've just taken the view of, 'why not attempt it and we'll proceed as early as we can', because the price of it is not relevant," he explained.
Impractical
There are some in the private teaching field who express these reservations.
Another CEO, head and founder of an educational organization, who also offer individual instructors, wrote that "the process of adopting dual cultures, or actually, forming one's identity, is something that must be lived into, not engineered."
Peter explained that he had emigrated from Asia to the Britain at the period of seven, and had been educated understanding and embodying two backgrounds. He progressed to learn at Cambridge University.
"The concept that an individual can function as a embodiment of Britishness, a person who can in some way transplant the characteristics of a British gentleman to a one-year-old child, strikes me as naive and unfeasible," he commented.
"Based on my background, employing a typically UK tutor from early childhood will not automatically achieve the result they hope for.
"I never had that kind of mentor, and however I have been lucky enough to experience numerous of the experiences they desire for their son."
He stated: "The reality is, self-identity can not be dictated from the external environment; it must be chosen, and it must come from within."
Purchasing UK Culture
Certainly, English culture is something the CEO hopes can be educated – and commercialized.
"I think the situation that the global community regards us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
