"A household residing in the northern part of London is looking for an exceptional and qualified instructor to guide their most junior child on his early path to becoming an British gentleman."
When reading this post, you might readily miss the wording "first-steps" as mere a turn of phrase.
Yet, it could be the most significant aspect of this unusual position posting, as it attempts to hire a mentor for a one-year-old.
Hundreds of submissions have since been sent in since the anonymous family advertised their search for the highly paid tutor, who needs to be "someone very special".
During the past few weeks, the post has received interest across the press, with many asking why?
Progressive Approach
The CEO, head and founder of an education consultancy, which is supporting the family in their quest, stated that notwithstanding first skepticism, he considered the idea "far sighted", and "advanced".
When he spoke with the family, he mentioned they appreciated the unconventional nature of their demand, and how young their son is.
However, they explained that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had waited until their elder sibling was five, and by that age "cultural influence had already taken hold".
What precisely does the family indicate by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "all-encompassing", the expert responded. "How you eat, the way you speak".
He explained the older sibling had absorbed "very nuanced, unspoken signals" from the family, and had adopted their cultural habits. The family informed the consultant they hoped to prevent history to recur with their new baby.
The strategy: To hire a British tutor, who must speak with standard English accent, to guide the baby from day one.
Osmotic Learning
"A great deal of the education at the beginning here is rather absorbed naturally," explained the expert.
It's through this natural absorption that the family are expecting the child will acquire the British traits they want to instil.
He said the tutor must be somebody who studied at "prestigious academies – similar types of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The educator simply needs to be the suitable individual, they'll be doing things they may not realize they're doing, just naturally," he commented.
Cost Not Relevant
The family informed him the chosen tutor should ideally also have familiarity of or enthusiasm in horse riding, winter sports, artistic pursuits and music so as to inspire the child in a broad spectrum of hobbies.
Additionally though, he explained the family desired the tutor to enrol the child on a variety of lessons so the child would be "equestrian training and picking up an tool by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's view, guiding their son become a "English gentleman" will bring about success and provide access.
"For all the pros and cons of that, because it's undoubtedly a social class indicator," he notes.
However, in spite of all this tutelage in "UK identity", might the child adopt so-called cultural influence from the globally influenced family he lives with anyway?
"Absolutely", said he. "The family realize this could fail, but they've just taken the view of, 'let's give it a go and we'll proceed as early as we can', because the price of it is not a concern," he stated.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
Several in the education sector who have these concerns.
Another CEO, CEO and founder of Blue Education, who supplies private tutors, commented that "the process of becoming bicultural, or actually, discovering oneself, is something that must be lived into, not engineered."
The expert wrote that he had relocated from the Far East to the United Kingdom at the age of seven, and had been brought up knowing and practicing both cultures. He continued to study at Cambridge University.
"The notion that one individual can serve as a embodiment of UK identity, an individual who can in some way impart the qualities of a British gentleman onto a infant child, appears idealistic and unfeasible," he commented.
"In my experience, having a quintessentially British tutor from babyhood will will not automatically produce the goal they want.
"I never had such a figure, and nevertheless I have been lucky enough to live many of the experiences they desire for their son."
He stated: "The reality is, self-identity should not be imposed from the external environment; it must be embraced, and it must be internally driven."
Purchasing UK Culture
Certainly, UK identity is something Adam hopes can be educated – and sold.
"I believe the fact that the world regards us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
