"A household residing in the northern part of London wants to find an remarkable and qualified tutor to guide their most junior child on his early path to becoming an English gentleman."
When reading this listing, you might easily overlook the term "first-steps" as just an expression.
Yet, it could be the crucial part of this distinctive position posting, as it aims to find a teacher for a one-year-old.
Numerous of responses have already been sent in since the unnamed family posted their call for the £180k-a-year tutor, who has to be "an exceptional individual".
Over the last few weeks, the post has attracted attention in the press, with many questioning why?
Progressive Approach
The CEO, chief executive of Tutors International, which is assisting the family in their hunt, explained that despite early skepticism, he considered the plan "forward-looking", and "innovative".
When he consulted the family, he mentioned they appreciated the atypical aspect of their demand, and how young their son is.
However, they explained that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had waited until their elder sibling was five, and by that stage "cultural influence had by then set in".
What precisely did the family indicate by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "comprehensive", he responded. "The manner you eat, the manner you speak".
He said the firstborn had adopted "very nuanced, unspoken signals" from the family, and had taken on their cultural ways. The family explained to him they hoped to prevent the same situation to repeat itself with their younger child.
The strategy: To bring in a UK tutor, who should speak with Received Pronunciation, to influence the baby from the very start.
Natural Absorption
"A great deal of the development at the beginning here is rather absorbed naturally," explained Adam.
It's through this natural absorption that the family are aiming the child will adopt the UK customs they want to cultivate.
Adam said the tutor must be someone who went to "prestigious academies – comparable categories of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The instructor just has to be the right kind of person, they'll be doing things they aren't even aware they're doing, effortlessly," he commented.
Expense Not a Factor
The family informed him the selected educator should preferably also have familiarity of or interest in equestrian activities, alpine skiing, artistic pursuits and instrumental training so as to influence the child in a diverse set of interests.
Additionally though, he said the family hoped the tutor to enrol the child on a selection of classes so the child would be "pony-riding and picking up an instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's perspective, assisting their son become a "English gentleman" will result in success and open doors.
"Taking into account the rights and wrongs of that, because it's certainly a status symbol," he notes.
Yet, despite all this tutelage in "Britishness", might the child absorb alleged cultural bias from the globally influenced family he lives with in any case?
"Absolutely", said the CEO. "They understand this might not succeed, but they've just taken the perspective of, 'let's give it a go and we should start as early as we can', because the cost of it is not a concern," he stated.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
There are some in the private teaching field who have similar concerns.
An education leader, head and founder of Blue Education, who also offer private tutors, stated that "the development of becoming bicultural, or actually, becoming oneself, is something that must be grown into, not designed."
He noted that he had moved from China to the UK at the time of 7 years old, and had been educated understanding and practicing two backgrounds. He continued to be educated at a prestigious UK institution.
"The notion that an individual can serve as a representation of UK identity, someone who can somehow impart the qualities of a British gentleman to a one-year-old child, seems to me idealistic and impractical," he commented.
"Based on my background, having a typically British tutor from early childhood will will not necessarily create the goal they desire.
"I never had that kind of mentor, and nevertheless I have been privileged enough to experience numerous of the experiences they aspire for their son."
He stated: "The reality is, personal identity should not be forced from the outside influences; it must be chosen, and it must come from within."
Purchasing UK Culture
Certainly, Britishness is something the CEO hopes can be instructed – and sold.
"I think the situation that the international society holds us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
