"A household located in the northern part of London wants to find an remarkable and qualified instructor to guide their youngest child on his early path to becoming an British gentleman."
Upon seeing this post, you might easily skip the wording "first-steps" as mere figurative language.
However, it could be the crucial element of this distinctive position posting, as it seeks to find a teacher for a infant.
Many of submissions have already been received since the unidentified family advertised their call for the £180k-a-year tutor, who has to be "a uniquely qualified person".
Over the last few weeks, the listing has received notice in the news, with many questioning why?
Innovative Idea
The CEO, CEO and founder of an education consultancy, which is assisting the family in their search, explained that notwithstanding early scepticism, he considered the idea "forward-looking", and "innovative".
When he met the family, he mentioned they understood the atypical character of their requirement, and how young their son is.
However, they stated that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to get a tutor, as they had waited until their older child was five, and by that stage "cultural influence had by then set in".
What exactly does the family mean by "cultural leaning"?
It's "comprehensive", Adam replied. "The way you eat, how you speak".
He stated the firstborn had adopted "extremely delicate, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had adopted their cultural ways. The family told Adam they hoped to prevent history to repeat itself with their new baby.
The intention: To engage a British tutor, who should speak with RP, to shape the baby from the very start.
Osmotic Learning
"A great deal of the development at the beginning here is kind of absorbed naturally," explained the expert.
It's via this osmosis that the family are aiming the child will adopt the UK customs they aim to impart.
Adam noted the tutor needed to be someone who went to "the right kinds of schools – the same kinds of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The tutor must be the suitable individual, they'll be carrying out things they don't even know they're doing, effortlessly," he added.
Cost Not Relevant
The family informed Adam the successful candidate should preferably also have knowledge of or passion in riding, skiing, creative fields and music so as to influence the child in a wide range 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 about three years old".
In the family's minds, assisting their son develop into a "English gentleman" will lead to accomplishment and open doors.
"For all the rights and wrongs of that, because it's definitely a social class indicator," he comments.
But, despite all this instruction in "English culture", might the child adopt so-called cultural influence from the international family he is raised by anyway?
"Yes", answered the CEO. "The family realize this may not work, but they've just taken the view of, 'let's give it a go and we should start as quickly as we can', because the cost of it is not a concern," he stated.
Impractical
There are some in the education sector who express those doubts.
Peter Cui, head and founder of an educational organization, who provides individual instructors, commented that "the process of embracing two identities, or in fact, becoming oneself, is something that must be lived into, not engineered."
The expert wrote that he had emigrated from China to the United Kingdom at the age of seven, and had been raised experiencing and practicing two backgrounds. He progressed to learn at Cambridge University.
"The notion that an individual can serve as a representation of Britishness, a person who can somehow transfer the characteristics of a British gentleman onto a one-year-old child, appears idealistic and unfeasible," he wrote.
"In my experience, employing a quintessentially British tutor from early childhood will not automatically achieve the result they hope for.
"I never had such a tutor, and nevertheless I have been fortunate enough to enjoy many of the opportunities they aspire for their son."
He continued: "The fact is, self-identity can not be forced from the outside influences; it must be chosen, and it must come from within."
Acquiring Englishness
Of course, Britishness is something the expert believes can be educated – and commercialized.
"I believe the fact that the global community holds us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
