"Parents located in north London wants to find an exceptional and experienced tutor to support their most junior child on his initial journey to turning into an English gentleman."
Upon seeing this listing, you might easily overlook the wording "first-steps" as mere figurative language.
Yet, it may be the most important part of this unique employment listing, as it seeks to find a teacher for a infant.
Hundreds of applications have now been received since the anonymous family advertised their search for the £180k-a-year tutor, who needs to be "someone very special".
Over the last few weeks, the listing has gained attention throughout the press, with numerous wondering why?
Progressive Approach
A tutoring expert, CEO and founder of Tutors International, which is assisting the family in their quest, explained that despite first doubt, he found the idea "forward-looking", and "advanced".
When he spoke with the family, he noted they understood the atypical aspect of their requirement, and how young their son is.
But, they explained that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had waited until their older child was five, and by that point "cultural influence had already taken hold".
What precisely does the family mean by "cultural bias"?
It's "comprehensive", he answered. "The manner you eat, the way you speak".
He stated the firstborn had absorbed "very nuanced, body language" from the family, and had adopted their cultural habits. The family informed the consultant they wished to avoid this pattern to happen again with their new baby.
The intention: To bring in a British tutor, who should speak with RP, to guide the baby from the very start.
Osmotic Learning
"Much of the education at the outset here is rather absorbed naturally," explained the expert.
It's through this osmosis that the family are expecting the child will pick up the British traits they aim to impart.
He noted the tutor had to be somebody who attended "the right kinds of schools – the same kinds of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The instructor must be the suitable individual, they'll be performing things they don't even know they're doing, just naturally," he commented.
Cost Not Relevant
The family explained to the expert the chosen tutor should ideally also have knowledge of or passion in equestrian activities, alpine skiing, artistic pursuits and music so as to shape the child in a wide range of interests.
More than that though, he stated the family desired the tutor to sign up the child on a variety of classes so the child would be "horseback riding and starting an instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's view, assisting their son grow into a "English gentleman" will bring about achievement and provide access.
"Taking into account the rights and wrongs of that, because it's undoubtedly a class statement," he adds.
However, notwithstanding all this guidance in "UK identity", might the child pick up what is termed cultural bias from the multicultural family he lives with regardless?
"Yes", said Adam. "The family realize this may not work, but they've just taken the view of, 'let's give it a go and we should start as quickly as we can', because the expense of it is not a concern," he explained.
Overly Optimistic
A number of in the private teaching field who have those concerns.
An education leader, head and founder of a tutoring service, who supplies individual instructors, commented that "the journey of becoming bicultural, or actually, forming one's identity, is something that must be experienced personally, not engineered."
He explained that he had emigrated from China to the UK at the time of 7 years old, and had been raised understanding and embodying both cultures. He progressed to be educated at a prestigious UK institution.
"The notion that a single person can function as a embodiment of English culture, an individual who can possibly transfer the attributes of a UK sophisticate onto a infant child, appears idealistic and impractical," he commented.
"Based on my background, having a quintessentially English tutor from babyhood will not automatically achieve the outcome they want.
"I wasn't provided with such a tutor, and nevertheless I have been lucky enough to experience numerous of the situations they desire for their son."
He continued: "The fact is, personal identity can not be forced from the external environment; it must be chosen, and it must originate internally."
Purchasing UK Culture
Of course, UK identity is something the expert thinks can be instructed – and commercialized.
"In my view the fact that the world holds us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
