"A family based in North London seeks an remarkable and qualified tutor to support their most junior child on his initial journey to turning into an English gentleman."
Upon seeing this advertisement, you might readily skip the wording "first-steps" as just an expression.
Yet, it may be the most important aspect of this distinctive position posting, as it attempts to find a teacher for a one-year-old.
Numerous of responses have already been sent in since the unidentified family advertised their request for the highly paid tutor, who has to be "a uniquely qualified person".
Over the last few weeks, the post has gained interest in the press, with several wondering why?
Innovative Idea
The CEO, head and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is assisting the family in their quest, said that despite initial skepticism, he considered the concept "forward-looking", and "advanced".
When he spoke with the family, he mentioned they understood the unconventional nature of their requirement, and how early in age their son is.
Nevertheless, they clarified that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had waited until their elder sibling was five, and by that age "cultural influence had already set in".
What exactly did the family indicate by "cultural bias"?
It's "comprehensive", Adam answered. "How you eat, the way you speak".
He said the older sibling had picked up "very nuanced, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had assumed their cultural norms. The family informed him they did not want history to repeat itself with their infant.
The strategy: To bring in a English tutor, who needs to speak with RP, to influence the baby from the very start.
Natural Absorption
"A lot of the learning at the beginning here is kind of absorbed naturally," explained Adam.
It's by means of this subtle influence that the family are expecting the child will pick up the British traits they wish to impart.
The consultant said the tutor needed to be somebody who went to "the appropriate educational institutions – similar types of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The tutor just has to be the right kind of person, they'll be performing things they may not realize they're doing, simply by nature," he commented.
Cost Not Relevant
The family told the expert the chosen tutor should preferably also have familiarity of or interest in riding, alpine skiing, the arts and musical activities so as to inspire the child in a wide range of passions.
More than that though, he said the family desired the tutor to sign up the child on a variety of classes so the child would be "horseback riding and learning an instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's view, assisting their son grow into a "British gentleman" will bring about accomplishment and provide access.
"For all the rights and wrongs of that, because it's definitely a social class indicator," he adds.
However, notwithstanding all this instruction in "Britishness", would the child absorb what is termed cultural influence from the international family he resides with anyway?
"Yes", said the CEO. "They realize this might not succeed, but they've just taken the attitude of, 'let's give it a go and let's go as quickly as we can', because the price of it is not relevant," he explained.
Impractical
A number of in the education sector who express those reservations.
Peter Cui, chief executive of a tutoring service, who provides private tutors, commented that "the journey of embracing two identities, or actually, discovering oneself, is something that must be lived into, not manufactured."
The expert wrote that he had relocated from Asia to the Britain at the age of seven, and had been educated knowing and practicing two backgrounds. He progressed to be educated at the University of Cambridge.
"The idea that a single person can act as a living vessel of Britishness, a person who can somehow transfer the attributes of a English gentleman upon a 12-month-old child, appears idealistic and impractical," he wrote.
"Based on my background, having a distinctly British tutor from babyhood will not instantly produce the outcome they want.
"I did not have such a tutor, and nevertheless I have been fortunate enough to enjoy many of the experiences they desire for their son."
He stated: "The fact is, cultural identity can not be dictated from the external environment; it must be embraced, and it must originate internally."
Buying Britishness
Certainly, Britishness is something the expert thinks can be taught – and commercialized.
"In my view the situation that the global community views us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
