"A family based in the northern part of London wants to find an extraordinary and skilled educator to assist their most junior child on his early path to growing into an English gentleman."
Looking at this post, you might readily overlook the term "first-steps" as simple an expression.
But, it might be the most significant aspect of this unusual position posting, as it seeks to recruit a tutor for a 12-month-old.
Many of applications have already been sent in since the anonymous family advertised their search for the £180k-a-year tutor, who has to be "someone very special".
During the past few weeks, the post has attracted attention throughout the media, with numerous wondering why?
Progressive Approach
A tutoring expert, head and founder of an education consultancy, which is assisting the family in their quest, explained that in spite of first skepticism, he found the concept "visionary", and "innovative".
When he spoke with the family, he mentioned they appreciated the unconventional character of their requirement, and how young their son is.
But, they clarified that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to get a tutor, as they had held off until their older child was five, and by that age "cultural influence had by then become established".
What precisely did the family refer to by "cultural leaning"?
It's "everything", the expert replied. "How you eat, the way you speak".
He said the older sibling had absorbed "really subtle, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had adopted their cultural ways. The family informed him they did not want history to recur with their new baby.
The intention: To engage a British tutor, who should speak with Received Pronunciation, to shape the baby from day one.
Natural Absorption
"A lot of the education at the beginning here is rather acquired indirectly," said Adam.
It's via this osmosis that the family are aiming the child will pick up the UK customs they want to impart.
Adam said the tutor had to be somebody who attended "prestigious academies – comparable categories of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The tutor must be the right kind of person, they'll be doing things they may not realize they're doing, just naturally," he added.
Expense Not a Factor
The family informed Adam the successful candidate should preferably also have understanding of or enthusiasm in horse riding, skiing, the arts and instrumental training so as to shape the child in a diverse set of passions.
Furthermore though, he stated the family wanted the tutor to register the child on a variety of courses so the child would be "pony-riding and picking up an tool by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's perspective, helping their son develop into a "English gentleman" will lead to success and provide access.
"For all the rights and wrongs of that, because it's definitely a social class indicator," he adds.
Yet, despite all this tutelage in "Britishness", could the child pick up so-called cultural bias from the multicultural family he lives with anyway?
"Certainly", said Adam. "They understand this could fail, but they've merely embraced the view of, 'why not attempt it and let's go as quickly as we can', because the cost of it is irrelevant," he stated.
Overly Optimistic
A number of in the education sector who have similar reservations.
An education leader, chief executive of a tutoring service, who provides personal educators, wrote that "the journey of embracing two identities, or indeed, forming one's identity, is something that must be lived into, not engineered."
The expert explained that he had emigrated from Asia to the UK at the time of 7 years old, and had been educated understanding and embodying both cultures. He continued to be educated at a prestigious UK institution.
"The concept that a single person can function as a living vessel of English culture, someone who can somehow impart the characteristics of a UK sophisticate upon a one-year-old child, appears optimistic and impractical," he wrote.
"In my experience, having a quintessentially British tutor from early childhood will will not instantly produce the goal they desire.
"I wasn't provided with such a figure, and however I have been lucky enough to live numerous of the opportunities they hope for their son."
He added: "The truth is, personal identity can not be forced from the external environment; it must be chosen, and it must come from within."
Purchasing UK Culture
Certainly, Britishness is something Adam hopes can be instructed – and commercialized.
"I think the reality that the global community regards us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
