"A family residing in North London seeks an extraordinary and skilled instructor to support their youngest child on his early path to turning into an English gentleman."
Looking at this advertisement, you might easily skip the phrase "first-steps" as just figurative language.
Yet, it might be the most significant element of this distinctive employment listing, as it attempts to recruit a tutor for a 12-month-old.
Hundreds of applications have since been sent in since the unnamed family published their request for the £180,000 per year tutor, who must be "an exceptional individual".
During the past few weeks, the post has gained interest across the news, with several wondering why?
Progressive Approach
A tutoring expert, chief executive of Tutors International, which is supporting the family in their search, stated that despite first skepticism, he considered the concept "forward-looking", and "innovative".
When he consulted the family, he mentioned they recognized the atypical aspect of their requirement, and how young their son is.
Nevertheless, they clarified that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to get a tutor, as they had postponed until their older child was five, and by that age "cultural bias had already set in".
What precisely does the family indicate by "cultural bias"?
It's "everything", the expert responded. "The way you eat, how you speak".
He stated the older sibling had picked up "really subtle, unspoken signals" from the family, and had adopted their cultural norms. The family explained to Adam they hoped to prevent history to recur with their younger child.
The intention: To engage a UK tutor, who needs to speak with Received Pronunciation, to shape the baby right from the beginning.
Natural Absorption
"Much of the education at the start here is somewhat absorbed naturally," explained the expert.
It's through this osmosis that the family are expecting the child will acquire the British traits they wish to cultivate.
He noted the tutor must be somebody who attended "the appropriate educational institutions – comparable categories of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The educator must be the suitable individual, they'll be performing things they may not realize they're doing, just naturally," he commented.
Money No Object
The family told him the successful candidate should ideally also have familiarity of or enthusiasm in horse riding, alpine skiing, creative fields and music so as to shape the child in a broad spectrum of interests.
Furthermore though, he said the family desired the tutor to enrol the child on a variety of courses so the child would be "pony-riding and starting an musical instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's perspective, guiding their son grow into a "English gentleman" will lead to success and create opportunities.
"Considering the pros and cons of that, because it's undoubtedly a class statement," he comments.
But, despite all this guidance in "Britishness", could the child pick up what is termed cultural bias from the globally influenced family he resides with in any case?
"Certainly", answered he. "The parents understand this may not work, but they've just taken the perspective of, 'we should try and we'll proceed as quickly as we can', because the cost of it is not relevant," he stated.
Impractical
Several in the tutoring industry who express these concerns.
Peter Cui, chief executive of a tutoring service, who supplies personal educators, stated that "the journey of adopting dual cultures, or actually, discovering oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not engineered."
Peter noted that he had moved from the Far East to the Britain at the age of seven, and had been raised understanding and embodying two backgrounds. He went on to learn at the University of Cambridge.
"The notion that a single person can serve as a embodiment of Britishness, an individual who can possibly transfer the characteristics of a English gentleman to a one-year-old child, seems to me idealistic and impractical," he stated.
"In my experience, having a distinctly English tutor from early childhood will does not instantly achieve the goal they want.
"I wasn't provided with such a figure, and however I have been privileged enough to live many of the experiences they hope for their son."
He continued: "The truth is, self-identity cannot be imposed from the outside; it must be selected, and it must come from within."
Acquiring Englishness
Naturally, UK identity is something Adam thinks can be educated – and marketed.
"In my view the reality that the international society holds us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
