"A family located in north London is looking for an exceptional and qualified tutor to support their youngest child on his initial journey to growing into an British gentleman."
Looking at this advertisement, you might readily miss the phrase "first-steps" as just figurative language.
However, it may be the most significant part of this unique position posting, as it seeks to hire a teacher for a one-year-old.
Hundreds of submissions have since been sent in since the unidentified family advertised their request for the £180k-a-year tutor, who has to be "someone very special".
During the past few weeks, the post has gained attention throughout the news, with many asking why?
Progressive Approach
A tutoring expert, CEO and founder of Tutors International, which is helping the family in their quest, stated that despite first skepticism, he considered the concept "far sighted", and "advanced".
When he spoke with the family, he mentioned they understood the unconventional aspect of their request, and how early in age their son is.
However, they stated that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to get a tutor, as they had postponed until their older child was five, and by that point "cultural bias had already taken hold".
But what does the family indicate by "cultural leaning"?
It's "all-encompassing", he replied. "The way you eat, the way you speak".
He stated the older sibling had absorbed "really subtle, unspoken signals" from the family, and had adopted their cultural norms. The family told Adam they wished to avoid the same situation to recur with their new baby.
The strategy: To hire a British tutor, who should speak with RP, to influence the baby from day one.
Osmotic Learning
"A lot of the development at the beginning here is kind of osmotic," stated the expert.
It's through this osmosis that the family are aiming the child will pick up the UK customs they aim to cultivate.
He explained the tutor had to be someone who went to "the right kinds of schools – similar types of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The tutor just has to be the suitable individual, they'll be carrying out things they aren't even aware they're doing, simply by nature," he commented.
Money No Object
The family explained to him the selected educator should ideally also have understanding of or passion in horse riding, skiing, the arts and musical activities so as to influence the child in a broad spectrum of hobbies.
More than that though, he said the family wanted the tutor to enrol the child on a selection of courses so the child would be "equestrian training and starting an musical instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's view, helping their son become a "British gentleman" will bring about accomplishment and open doors.
"Considering the rights and wrongs of that, because it's undoubtedly a status symbol," he adds.
But, in spite of all this tutelage in "Britishness", could the child absorb what is termed cultural leaning from the international family he lives with anyway?
"Absolutely", said the CEO. "The parents understand this might not succeed, but they've just taken the attitude of, 'why not attempt it and let's go as early as we can', because the expense of it is irrelevant," he stated.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
A number of in the private teaching field who share similar doubts.
Another CEO, chief executive of an educational organization, who also offer personal educators, stated that "the journey of becoming bicultural, or actually, discovering oneself, is something that must be lived into, not engineered."
He explained that he had emigrated from the Far East to the Britain at the age of seven, and had been raised understanding and practicing dual heritages. He continued to study at Cambridge University.
"The notion that an individual can serve as a living vessel of UK identity, someone who can possibly transfer the qualities of a UK sophisticate to a infant child, appears idealistic and unrealistic," he wrote.
"In my experience, engaging a distinctly English tutor from babyhood will does not automatically produce the result they hope for.
"I did not have that kind of mentor, and nevertheless I have been fortunate enough to live many of the opportunities they aspire for their son."
He stated: "The reality is, self-identity can not be imposed from the outside influences; it must be embraced, and it must be internally driven."
Purchasing UK Culture
Certainly, Britishness is something the CEO thinks can be taught – and sold.
"In my view the situation that the world holds us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
