"A household located in North London is looking for an remarkable and qualified educator to support their most junior child on his initial journey to turning into an British gentleman."
Looking at this listing, you might easily miss the wording "first-steps" as mere a turn of phrase.
Yet, it might be the most significant part of this unusual position posting, as it aims to recruit a tutor for a infant.
Hundreds of responses have already been submitted since the unidentified family advertised their search for the highly paid tutor, who must be "a uniquely qualified person".
In recent few weeks, the listing has received interest across the news, with many wondering why?
Innovative Idea
A tutoring expert, chief executive of Tutors International, which is supporting the family in their hunt, explained that despite early scepticism, he considered the idea "forward-looking", and "progressive".
When he met the family, he mentioned they recognized the unconventional aspect of their demand, and how early in age their son is.
Nevertheless, they stated that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had held off until their elder sibling was five, and by that point "cultural conditioning had already become established".
What exactly did the family mean by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "all-encompassing", the expert answered. "The manner you eat, how you speak".
He said the elder child had adopted "really subtle, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had assumed their cultural ways. The family told the consultant they hoped to prevent this pattern to repeat itself with their infant.
The intention: To engage a British tutor, who must speak with RP, to guide the baby from the very start.
Subtle Influence
"Much of the learning at the beginning here is kind of osmotic," stated the expert.
It's via this natural absorption that the family are aiming the child will adopt the English characteristics they wish to instil.
The consultant explained the tutor needed to be someone who studied at "prestigious academies – comparable categories of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The educator must be the right kind of person, they'll be performing things they don't even know they're doing, just naturally," he commented.
Money No Object
The family explained to the expert the chosen tutor should ideally also have knowledge of or passion in horse riding, winter sports, the arts and music so as to influence the child in a diverse set of interests.
Additionally though, he stated the family wanted the tutor to sign up the child on a variety of classes so the child would be "equestrian training and learning an musical instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's perspective, helping their son develop into a "UK sophisticate" will lead to success and provide access.
"Taking into account the rights and wrongs of that, because it's undoubtedly a status symbol," he notes.
But, notwithstanding all this guidance in "Britishness", could the child pick up what is termed cultural bias from the international family he is raised by in any case?
"Absolutely", replied he. "The parents understand this might not succeed, but they've just taken the perspective of, 'why not attempt it and let's go as quickly as we can', because the price of it is not relevant," he stated.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
A number of in the tutoring industry who express these reservations.
An education leader, CEO and founder of Blue Education, who supplies individual instructors, wrote that "the process of embracing two identities, or in fact, becoming oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not manufactured."
The expert noted that he had emigrated from the Far East to the Britain at the age of seven, and had been raised knowing and embodying dual heritages. He continued to be educated at Cambridge University.
"The notion that an individual can serve as a representation of English culture, an individual who can in some way transplant the qualities of a UK sophisticate upon a 12-month-old child, seems to me optimistic and unrealistic," he wrote.
"From my perspective, having a distinctly UK tutor from infancy will does not automatically produce the outcome they want.
"I never had that kind of mentor, and yet I have been lucky enough to enjoy several of the situations they hope for their son."
He added: "The truth is, personal identity should not be imposed from the external environment; it must be embraced, and it must be internally driven."
Purchasing UK Culture
Naturally, English culture is something the CEO believes can be educated – and marketed.
"In my view the situation that the international society regards us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
