"A family residing in north London is looking for an exceptional and skilled educator to guide their youngest child on his early path to growing into an English gentleman."
When reading this advertisement, you might easily skip the phrase "first-steps" as mere a turn of phrase.
Yet, it might be the most significant element of this distinctive job advert, as it aims to find a teacher for a infant.
Numerous of applications have since been received since the unidentified family published their search for the £180k-a-year tutor, who must be "an exceptional individual".
Over the last few weeks, the post has received interest throughout the media, with several questioning why?
Forward-Thinking Method
Adam Caller, CEO and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is helping the family in their hunt, explained that in spite of first skepticism, he viewed the plan "visionary", and "innovative".
When he met the family, he mentioned they recognized the unconventional aspect of their demand, and how early in age their son is.
However, they stated that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had postponed until their older child was five, and by that point "cultural conditioning had by then set in".
What precisely does the family mean by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "everything", the expert answered. "The manner you eat, the manner you speak".
He said the firstborn had absorbed "really subtle, unspoken signals" from the family, and had assumed their cultural ways. The family explained to the consultant they hoped to prevent the same situation to repeat itself with their younger child.
The intention: To bring in a English tutor, who should speak with Received Pronunciation, to influence the baby right from the beginning.
Subtle Influence
"A lot of the development at the start here is kind of osmotic," explained the CEO.
It's by means of this subtle influence that the family are hoping the child will acquire the UK customs they want to cultivate.
The consultant said the tutor must be someone 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 carrying out things they don't even know they're doing, simply by nature," he added.
Expense Not a Factor
The family told the expert the chosen tutor should preferably also have knowledge of or passion in riding, alpine skiing, the arts and music so as to shape the child in a diverse set of passions.
Furthermore though, he said the family desired the tutor to enrol the child on a selection of classes 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 develop into a "British gentleman" will result in success and create opportunities.
"For all the rights and wrongs of that, because it's certainly a status symbol," he comments.
However, in spite of all this instruction in "English culture", would the child adopt what is termed cultural influence from the multicultural family he lives with regardless?
"Absolutely", said the CEO. "The family understand this could fail, but they've simply adopted the view of, 'let's give it a go and we should start as quickly as we can', because the price of it is not a concern," he said.
Impractical
A number of in the private teaching field who share those doubts.
Another CEO, head and founder of Blue Education, who provides individual instructors, stated that "the development of adopting dual cultures, or in fact, becoming oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not manufactured."
He noted that he had moved from Asia to the UK at the time of seven, and had been brought up knowing and practicing both cultures. He progressed to study at Cambridge University.
"The concept that one individual can act as a representation of English culture, a person who can somehow impart the attributes of a UK sophisticate onto a infant child, strikes me as idealistic and impractical," he stated.
"From my perspective, employing a distinctly English tutor from infancy will does not necessarily produce the result they want.
"I never had such a tutor, and yet I have been privileged enough to enjoy several of the opportunities they desire for their son."
He continued: "The fact is, personal identity can not be dictated from the outside influences; it must be embraced, and it must come from within."
Purchasing UK Culture
Naturally, Britishness is something the CEO believes can be instructed – and commercialized.
"I believe the fact that the global community regards us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
