"Parents based in North London seeks an extraordinary and skilled educator to assist their smallest child on his early path to becoming an British gentleman."
When reading this post, you might readily skip the phrase "first-steps" as just an expression.
But, it may be the crucial aspect of this distinctive position posting, as it aims to recruit a teacher for a one-year-old.
Numerous of responses have already been submitted since the unidentified family advertised their call for the £180k-a-year tutor, who has to be "an exceptional individual".
In recent few weeks, the post has gained interest across the news, with several wondering why?
Progressive Approach
The CEO, CEO and founder of Tutors International, which is supporting the family in their hunt, said that despite early scepticism, he viewed the plan "visionary", and "advanced".
When he consulted the family, he said they appreciated the unusual nature of their requirement, and how immature their son is.
Nevertheless, they clarified that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had postponed until their firstborn was five, and by that stage "cultural influence had by then become established".
But what does the family mean by "cultural leaning"?
It's "comprehensive", he replied. "How you eat, the manner you speak".
He stated the firstborn had adopted "really subtle, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had assumed their cultural ways. The family explained to Adam they hoped to prevent the same situation to happen again with their infant.
The intention: To bring in a English tutor, who needs to speak with Received Pronunciation, to guide the baby right from the beginning.
Subtle Influence
"A great deal of the education at the outset here is kind of acquired indirectly," explained the CEO.
It's through this osmosis that the family are expecting the child will pick up the English characteristics they wish to cultivate.
He noted the tutor must be someone who attended "the right kinds of schools – similar types of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The instructor simply needs to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be doing things they aren't even aware they're doing, simply by nature," he commented.
Money No Object
The family informed the expert the successful candidate should ideally also have knowledge of or interest in equestrian activities, winter sports, creative fields and music so as to shape the child in a wide range of interests.
More than that though, he explained the family desired the tutor to sign up the child on a range of classes so the child would be "pony-riding and learning an tool by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's view, guiding their son develop into a "British gentleman" will lead to accomplishment and create opportunities.
"Considering the pros and cons of that, because it's undoubtedly a social class indicator," he comments.
Yet, notwithstanding all this instruction in "Britishness", could the child pick up what is termed cultural leaning from the international family he lives with anyway?
"Yes", said the CEO. "The family know this may not work, but they've merely embraced the view of, 'we should try and we should start as soon as we can', because the expense of it is not relevant," he stated.
Overly Optimistic
Several in the tutoring industry who share these concerns.
Peter Cui, CEO and founder of Blue Education, who also offer personal educators, wrote that "the development of embracing two identities, or actually, discovering oneself, is something that must be lived into, not designed."
He explained that he had relocated from the Far East to the Britain at the age of childhood, and had been brought up experiencing and living two backgrounds. He continued to study at Cambridge University.
"The idea that an individual can serve as a living vessel of Britishness, an individual who can in some way impart the attributes of a UK sophisticate upon a infant child, appears optimistic and impractical," he stated.
"In my experience, engaging a quintessentially British tutor from early childhood will will not instantly achieve the result they want.
"I never had that kind of mentor, and nevertheless I have been privileged enough to live several of the situations they hope for their son."
He added: "The fact is, self-identity cannot be forced from the outside; it must be chosen, and it must be internally driven."
Acquiring Englishness
Naturally, Britishness is something Adam hopes can be educated – and marketed.
"In my view the fact that the world views us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
