"A household based in north London wants to find an extraordinary and experienced tutor to support their youngest child on his initial journey to growing into an British gentleman."
Looking at this listing, you might readily miss the term "first-steps" as mere a turn of phrase.
Yet, it might be the most important element of this distinctive employment listing, as it aims to find a teacher for a 12-month-old.
Hundreds of submissions have now been received since the anonymous family posted their request for the £180k-a-year tutor, who must be "a uniquely qualified person".
In recent few weeks, the advert has received notice throughout the press, with several wondering why?
Innovative Idea
Adam Caller, head and founder of Tutors International, which is assisting the family in their hunt, said that notwithstanding initial scepticism, he viewed the plan "visionary", and "progressive".
When he met the family, he said they appreciated the atypical nature of their demand, and how young their son is.
However, they clarified that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had waited until their elder sibling was five, and by that age "cultural influence had already taken hold".
What precisely does the family indicate by "cultural leaning"?
It's "everything", Adam replied. "How you eat, the way you speak".
He explained the elder child had absorbed "very nuanced, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had taken on their cultural ways. The family told the consultant they hoped to prevent the same situation to happen again with their younger child.
The plan: To engage a English tutor, who must speak with RP, to influence the baby from the very start.
Subtle Influence
"A lot of the education at the start here is somewhat acquired indirectly," explained the CEO.
It's through this subtle influence that the family are hoping the child will acquire the UK customs they want to cultivate.
Adam noted the tutor needed to be an individual who attended "the appropriate educational institutions – comparable categories of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The tutor simply needs to be the right kind of person, they'll be doing things they may not realize they're doing, simply by nature," he said.
Expense Not a Factor
The family told the expert the selected educator should ideally also have knowledge of or interest in horse riding, skiing, creative fields and music so as to inspire the child in a diverse set of passions.
Additionally though, he explained the family wanted the tutor to register the child on a selection of lessons so the child would be "equestrian training and picking up an musical instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's perspective, helping their son grow into a "English gentleman" will result in accomplishment and provide access.
"Taking into account the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's undoubtedly a status symbol," he adds.
Yet, notwithstanding all this tutelage in "UK identity", would the child pick up so-called cultural leaning from the international family he is raised by regardless?
"Yes", replied he. "They realize this might not succeed, but they've just taken the perspective of, 'we should try and we'll proceed as early as we can', because the expense of it is not a concern," he explained.
Overly Optimistic
Several in the tutoring industry who have similar concerns.
Another CEO, chief executive of a tutoring service, who provides private tutors, commented that "the development of embracing two identities, or actually, becoming oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not manufactured."
The expert wrote that he had moved from China to the United Kingdom at the age of childhood, and had been raised experiencing and embodying both cultures. He progressed to study at a prestigious UK institution.
"The idea that an individual can function as a representation of English culture, a person who can somehow transfer the characteristics of a English gentleman to a infant child, strikes me as naive and impractical," he wrote.
"Based on my background, employing a quintessentially British tutor from babyhood will does not automatically create the outcome they desire.
"I wasn't provided with such a tutor, and however I have been fortunate enough to live several of the opportunities they desire for their son."
He added: "The fact is, cultural identity cannot be dictated from the external environment; it must be embraced, and it must be internally driven."
Acquiring Englishness
Certainly, UK identity is something Adam thinks can be instructed – and sold.
"I think the situation that the international society holds us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
