"Parents based in North London is looking for an extraordinary and qualified educator to guide their most junior child on his early path to growing into an British gentleman."
When reading this advertisement, you might readily miss the phrase "first-steps" as simple an expression.
Yet, it could be the crucial element of this unique job advert, as it attempts to hire a tutor for a 12-month-old.
Numerous of submissions have now been submitted since the unidentified family posted their call for the highly paid tutor, who must be "someone very special".
During the past few weeks, the listing has attracted notice in the news, with several questioning why?
Progressive Approach
Adam Caller, chief executive of Tutors International, which is supporting the family in their quest, said that in spite of early scepticism, he considered the plan "forward-looking", and "progressive".
When he consulted the family, he mentioned they recognized the unusual nature of their request, and how young their son is.
But, they stated that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to get a tutor, as they had postponed until their firstborn was five, and by that stage "cultural bias had already taken hold".
But what does the family refer to by "cultural bias"?
It's "comprehensive", he responded. "The way you eat, the way you speak".
He stated the firstborn had absorbed "very nuanced, unspoken signals" from the family, and had assumed their cultural ways. The family informed the consultant they hoped to prevent the same situation to happen again with their younger child.
The strategy: To bring in a English tutor, who must speak with RP, to influence the baby from the very start.
Natural Absorption
"Much of the learning at the start here is kind of osmotic," said the CEO.
It's by means of this natural absorption that the family are expecting the child will pick up the British traits they wish to impart.
The consultant noted the tutor had to be an individual who attended "prestigious academies – the same kinds of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The tutor just has to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be carrying out things they aren't even aware they're doing, simply by nature," he added.
Cost Not Relevant
The family told the expert the selected educator should ideally also have familiarity of or enthusiasm in riding, skiing, artistic pursuits and music so as to shape the child in a diverse set of interests.
Furthermore though, he stated the family hoped the tutor to enrol the child on a range of courses so the child would be "pony-riding and learning an musical instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's view, guiding their son develop into a "UK sophisticate" will bring about accomplishment and create opportunities.
"Considering the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's certainly a class statement," he comments.
However, notwithstanding all this tutelage in "UK identity", might the child pick up alleged cultural bias from the international family he resides with in any case?
"Yes", said he. "They understand this may not work, but they've merely embraced the view of, 'let's give it a go and let's go as soon as we can', because the price of it is not a concern," he explained.
Overly Optimistic
There are some in the education sector who share similar reservations.
An education leader, chief executive of Blue Education, who supplies individual instructors, commented that "the journey of embracing two identities, or indeed, discovering oneself, is something that must be grown into, not engineered."
The expert noted that he had emigrated from China to the United Kingdom at the period of childhood, and had been brought up knowing and embodying both cultures. He went on to study at Cambridge University.
"The concept that an individual can function as a living vessel of English culture, a person who can somehow transfer the attributes of a English gentleman upon a one-year-old child, strikes me as naive and unrealistic," he wrote.
"In my experience, having a quintessentially British tutor from babyhood will does not necessarily create the result they desire.
"I never had such a figure, and yet I have been fortunate enough to experience numerous of the opportunities they desire for their son."
He continued: "The fact is, personal identity can not be forced from the outside influences; it must be chosen, and it must come from within."
Buying Britishness
Certainly, UK identity is something Adam hopes can be educated – and marketed.
"In my view the situation that the world holds us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
