"Parents based in North London is looking for an remarkable and skilled educator to assist their smallest child on his early path to turning into an English gentleman."
When reading this post, you might readily skip the wording "first-steps" as mere a turn of phrase.
However, it might be the most important aspect of this unusual position posting, as it aims to find a tutor for a 12-month-old.
Numerous of responses have already been received since the anonymous family published their request for the highly paid tutor, who must be "an exceptional individual".
In recent few weeks, the post has attracted attention across the news, with several asking why?
Forward-Thinking Method
The CEO, chief executive of an education consultancy, which is supporting the family in their quest, stated that in spite of first doubt, he found the plan "forward-looking", and "progressive".
When he met the family, he noted they understood the unconventional nature of their requirement, and how early in age their son is.
Nevertheless, they explained that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had postponed until their elder sibling was five, and by that stage "cultural bias had by then become established".
What precisely did the family mean by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "comprehensive", Adam responded. "How you eat, how you speak".
He explained the firstborn had picked up "extremely delicate, unspoken signals" from the family, and had taken on their cultural habits. The family informed the consultant they did not want history to happen again with their infant.
The plan: To bring in a UK tutor, who should speak with Received Pronunciation, to shape the baby right from the beginning.
Subtle Influence
"Much of the development at the outset here is kind of acquired indirectly," explained Adam.
It's by means of this osmosis that the family are expecting the child will pick up the British traits they wish to cultivate.
The consultant noted the tutor needed to be an individual who went to "prestigious academies – the same kinds of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The tutor just has to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be doing things they aren't even aware they're doing, just naturally," he added.
Expense Not a Factor
The family told him the successful candidate should ideally also have familiarity of or enthusiasm in riding, winter sports, the arts and music so as to influence the child in a diverse set of interests.
More than that though, he stated the family hoped the tutor to register the child on a variety of classes so the child would be "horseback riding and picking up an instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's minds, helping their son become a "UK sophisticate" will lead to success and create opportunities.
"For all the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's undoubtedly a social class indicator," he adds.
Yet, in spite of all this guidance in "English culture", would the child pick up so-called cultural influence from the international family he resides with in any case?
"Certainly", replied he. "They realize this may not work, but they've merely embraced the attitude of, 'we should try and we'll proceed as early as we can', because the expense of it is not a concern," he stated.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
Several in the private teaching field who have these doubts.
Peter Cui, chief executive of an educational organization, who provides individual instructors, wrote that "the process of embracing two identities, or indeed, forming one's identity, is something that must be grown into, not engineered."
He explained that he had relocated from the Far East to the Britain at the period of seven, and had been raised knowing and embodying two backgrounds. He continued to be educated at the University of Cambridge.
"The concept that a single person can act as a living vessel of Britishness, an individual who can in some way transfer the characteristics of a British gentleman to a infant child, strikes me as idealistic and impractical," he wrote.
"Based on my background, employing a typically English tutor from early childhood will not necessarily create the result they hope for.
"I wasn't provided with that kind of mentor, and yet I have been fortunate enough to experience many of the situations they hope for their son."
He stated: "The truth is, self-identity can not be imposed from the outside; it must be selected, and it must be internally driven."
Acquiring Englishness
Naturally, Britishness is something the expert believes can be taught – and sold.
"I think the reality that the international society views us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
