"A household located in north London wants to find an remarkable and skilled tutor to guide their most junior child on his initial journey to turning into an British gentleman."
When reading this advertisement, you might easily overlook the wording "first-steps" as mere an expression.
But, it may be the most significant part of this unusual job advert, as it seeks to find a mentor for a infant.
Many of submissions have now been sent in since the unnamed family advertised their request for the £180k-a-year tutor, who needs to be "someone very special".
During the past few weeks, the listing has received attention in the media, with several asking why?
Innovative Idea
The CEO, head and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is assisting the family in their search, said that in spite of initial skepticism, he viewed the plan "far sighted", and "advanced".
When he spoke with the family, he said they appreciated the atypical nature of their request, and how young their son is.
But, they stated that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had waited until their firstborn was five, and by that age "cultural conditioning had by then set in".
What exactly does the family indicate by "cultural bias"?
It's "comprehensive", the expert replied. "How you eat, the manner you speak".
He said the firstborn had adopted "really subtle, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had adopted their cultural ways. The family explained to him they did not want the same situation to happen again with their younger child.
The strategy: To bring in a English tutor, who must speak with Received Pronunciation, to influence the baby right from the beginning.
Osmotic Learning
"A lot of the development at the start here is kind of absorbed naturally," stated the expert.
It's via this natural absorption that the family are expecting the child will acquire the UK customs they aim to cultivate.
He noted the tutor needed to be someone who went to "the appropriate educational institutions – similar types of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The tutor must be the right kind of person, they'll be carrying out things they don't even know they're doing, just naturally," he commented.
Money No Object
The family explained to him the successful candidate should preferably also have understanding of or interest in equestrian activities, skiing, artistic pursuits and music so as to inspire the child in a wide range of hobbies.
Additionally though, he said the family hoped the tutor to enrol the child on a selection of lessons so the child would be "pony-riding and picking up an tool by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's view, assisting their son grow into a "English gentleman" will bring about accomplishment and open doors.
"Considering the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's undoubtedly a class statement," he comments.
But, despite all this instruction in "UK identity", might the child pick up what is termed cultural bias from the multicultural family he lives with regardless?
"Certainly", replied he. "They realize this could fail, but they've merely embraced the attitude of, 'let's give it a go and we'll proceed as quickly as we can', because the expense of it is not a concern," he stated.
Impractical
There are some in the education sector who have these doubts.
Another CEO, chief executive of an educational organization, who supplies private tutors, stated that "the journey of adopting dual cultures, or in fact, forming one's identity, is something that must be lived into, not engineered."
He wrote that he had emigrated from Asia to the UK at the period of childhood, and had been raised experiencing and living dual heritages. He continued to study at a prestigious UK institution.
"The concept that an individual can act as a embodiment of UK identity, an individual who can possibly transfer the attributes of a English gentleman to a one-year-old child, appears idealistic and unfeasible," he wrote.
"In my experience, employing a quintessentially British tutor from infancy will does not instantly create the outcome they hope for.
"I never had such a figure, and however I have been lucky enough to experience several of the experiences they desire for their son."
He added: "The reality is, personal identity should not be dictated from the outside influences; it must be embraced, and it must originate internally."
Purchasing UK Culture
Certainly, English culture is something the CEO thinks can be educated – and commercialized.
"I believe the reality that the world regards us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
