"A household residing in north London wants to find an exceptional and experienced instructor to assist their youngest child on his early path to becoming an English gentleman."
Looking at this advertisement, you might readily miss the phrase "first-steps" as simple figurative language.
Yet, it may be the crucial part of this unusual employment listing, as it seeks to hire a tutor for a one-year-old.
Many of submissions have now been submitted since the unidentified family published their search for the highly paid tutor, who must be "an exceptional individual".
Over the last few weeks, the listing has received interest throughout the news, with many asking why?
Forward-Thinking Method
A tutoring expert, head and founder of Tutors International, which is supporting the family in their hunt, explained that despite first doubt, he considered the idea "visionary", and "innovative".
When he spoke with the family, he noted they recognized the unconventional character of their requirement, and how young their son is.
But, they explained that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had waited until their elder sibling was five, and by that stage "cultural conditioning had already taken hold".
But what did the family refer to by "cultural leaning"?
It's "comprehensive", he answered. "The way you eat, the manner you speak".
He said the elder child had adopted "really subtle, unspoken signals" from the family, and had taken on their cultural norms. The family explained to him they hoped to prevent this pattern to happen again with their infant.
The strategy: To engage a British tutor, who must speak with standard English accent, to influence the baby from the very start.
Subtle Influence
"A lot of the education at the outset here is somewhat absorbed naturally," explained the CEO.
It's via this subtle influence that the family are aiming the child will adopt the British traits they aim to cultivate.
Adam noted the tutor needed to be someone who studied at "prestigious academies – the same kinds of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The instructor 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.
Expense Not a Factor
The family informed the expert the chosen tutor should ideally also have familiarity of or passion in equestrian activities, winter sports, artistic pursuits and musical activities so as to shape the child in a wide range of hobbies.
Additionally though, he said the family desired the tutor to enrol the child on a variety of lessons so the child would be "pony-riding and picking up an musical instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's minds, assisting their son develop into a "British gentleman" will result in achievement and open doors.
"For all the rights and wrongs of that, because it's definitely a social class indicator," he comments.
However, notwithstanding all this tutelage in "English culture", might the child pick up so-called cultural leaning from the international family he resides with anyway?
"Certainly", said Adam. "They realize this could fail, but they've merely embraced the attitude of, 'we should try and let's go as soon as we can', because the price of it is irrelevant," he said.
Impractical
A number of in the private teaching field who have similar doubts.
An education leader, CEO and founder of an educational organization, who provides individual instructors, commented that "the journey of embracing two identities, or in fact, discovering oneself, is something that must be grown into, not designed."
The expert wrote that he had moved from Asia to the UK at the age of childhood, and had been raised experiencing and embodying two backgrounds. He went on to be educated at the University of Cambridge.
"The idea that one individual can act as a living vessel of UK identity, a person who can in some way impart the characteristics of a British gentleman upon a one-year-old child, appears optimistic and impractical," he commented.
"Based on my background, employing a quintessentially English tutor from infancy will not necessarily produce the outcome they hope for.
"I never had such a tutor, and nevertheless I have been fortunate enough to enjoy numerous of the opportunities they aspire for their son."
He stated: "The fact is, cultural identity should not be forced from the outside; it must be embraced, and it must come from within."
Purchasing UK Culture
Of course, English culture is something the CEO thinks can be taught – and marketed.
"I think the fact that the world regards us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
