"A family based in the northern part of London wants to find an remarkable and skilled tutor to support their most junior child on his early path to growing into an British gentleman."
When reading this listing, you might naturally miss the phrase "first-steps" as just an expression.
Yet, it may be the crucial part of this distinctive job advert, as it aims to hire a teacher for a one-year-old.
Many of responses have since been sent in since the anonymous family advertised their call for the £180,000 per year tutor, who needs to be "someone very special".
During the past few weeks, the advert has received attention throughout the press, with many asking why?
Forward-Thinking Method
Adam Caller, CEO and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is supporting the family in their quest, said that despite early scepticism, he viewed the plan "far sighted", and "innovative".
When he spoke with the family, he mentioned they understood the unconventional nature of their request, and how immature their son is.
Nevertheless, they clarified that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had held off until their older child was five, and by that point "cultural influence had by then set in".
What precisely did the family indicate by "cultural leaning"?
It's "all-encompassing", the expert responded. "The way you eat, how you speak".
He said the elder child had absorbed "very nuanced, body language" from the family, and had adopted their cultural habits. The family informed the consultant they hoped to prevent history to recur with their new baby.
The intention: To bring in a English tutor, who should speak with Received Pronunciation, to guide the baby from the very start.
Natural Absorption
"A great deal of the education at the start here is kind of absorbed naturally," explained Adam.
It's through this natural absorption that the family are hoping the child will pick up the English characteristics they want to impart.
Adam noted the tutor had to be somebody who went to "prestigious academies – similar types of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The instructor simply needs to be the suitable individual, they'll be carrying out things they may not realize they're doing, effortlessly," he said.
Expense Not a Factor
The family informed Adam the chosen tutor should ideally also have familiarity of or passion in riding, skiing, the arts and instrumental training so as to shape the child in a broad spectrum of passions.
Furthermore though, he said the family desired the tutor to register the child on a selection of courses so the child would be "equestrian training and learning an musical instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's perspective, assisting their son develop into a "British gentleman" will lead to accomplishment and open doors.
"For all the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's certainly a status symbol," he notes.
But, in spite of all this tutelage in "Britishness", could the child absorb so-called cultural influence from the multicultural family he is raised by anyway?
"Absolutely", replied he. "They understand this could fail, but they've just taken the attitude of, 'why not attempt it and we should start as soon as we can', because the price of it is not a concern," he stated.
Impractical
Several in the education sector who express these reservations.
Another CEO, chief executive of an educational organization, who provides personal educators, stated that "the development of embracing two identities, or in fact, forming one's identity, is something that must be grown into, not manufactured."
He wrote that he had moved from Asia to the United Kingdom at the period of seven, and had been raised experiencing and embodying two backgrounds. He went on to learn at a prestigious UK institution.
"The concept that a single person can act as a embodiment of UK identity, someone who can possibly impart the qualities of a English gentleman to a one-year-old child, seems to me naive and unfeasible," he wrote.
"Based on my background, having a quintessentially English tutor from infancy will not necessarily achieve the outcome they desire.
"I did not have such a tutor, and however I have been privileged enough to experience several of the opportunities they desire for their son."
He added: "The fact is, personal identity can not be dictated from the outside influences; it must be embraced, and it must be internally driven."
Purchasing UK Culture
Of course, Britishness is something Adam thinks can be instructed – and sold.
"I believe the fact that the global community holds us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
