"A family based in north London seeks an remarkable and skilled instructor to support their most junior child on his early path to turning into an English gentleman."
When reading this advertisement, you might readily miss the phrase "first-steps" as simple figurative language.
Yet, it may be the most important part of this unique employment listing, as it seeks to recruit a teacher for a one-year-old.
Hundreds of responses have now been submitted since the unnamed family published their request for the £180,000 per year tutor, who has to be "an exceptional individual".
Over the last few weeks, the advert has attracted notice in the media, with many asking why?
Forward-Thinking Method
The CEO, chief executive of a global tutoring firm, which is supporting the family in their quest, explained that in spite of early doubt, he viewed the concept "forward-looking", and "advanced".
When he met the family, he said they understood the atypical aspect of their demand, and how young their son is.
But, they clarified that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to get a tutor, as they had held off until their older child was five, and by that age "cultural influence had already taken hold".
What precisely did the family refer to by "cultural leaning"?
It's "everything", Adam responded. "How you eat, the manner you speak".
He stated the older sibling had adopted "very nuanced, unspoken signals" from the family, and had adopted their cultural ways. The family informed him they did not want the same situation to happen again with their new baby.
The plan: To engage a English tutor, who needs to speak with standard English accent, to guide the baby from the very start.
Natural Absorption
"A lot of the education at the start here is rather absorbed naturally," stated Adam.
It's through this natural absorption that the family are aiming the child will acquire the British traits they want to cultivate.
Adam said 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 just has to be the suitable individual, they'll be carrying out things they aren't even aware they're doing, effortlessly," he added.
Money No Object
The family informed the expert the selected educator should preferably also have understanding of or enthusiasm in riding, alpine skiing, artistic pursuits and instrumental training so as to shape the child in a diverse set of passions.
Furthermore though, he explained the family hoped the tutor to register the child on a selection of lessons so the child would be "pony-riding and starting an tool by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's minds, guiding their son become a "UK sophisticate" will lead to accomplishment and provide access.
"Considering the pros and cons of that, because it's definitely a social class indicator," he notes.
However, in spite of all this tutelage in "Britishness", would the child pick up so-called cultural influence from the international family he resides with in any case?
"Certainly", said he. "They realize this may not work, but they've simply adopted the view of, 'let's give it a go and we'll proceed as quickly as we can', because the price of it is irrelevant," he stated.
Overly Optimistic
There are some in the tutoring industry who share these doubts.
Peter Cui, chief executive of Blue Education, who also offer individual instructors, wrote that "the process of embracing two identities, or indeed, forming one's identity, is something that must be experienced personally, not engineered."
He explained that he had moved from the Far East to the United Kingdom at the period of childhood, and had been educated experiencing and practicing both cultures. He progressed to learn at the University of Cambridge.
"The idea that a single person can function as a representation of Britishness, a person who can possibly transplant the characteristics of a English gentleman to a one-year-old child, seems to me naive and unfeasible," he commented.
"From my perspective, having a typically UK tutor from early childhood will not necessarily achieve the outcome they hope for.
"I never had such a figure, and nevertheless I have been lucky enough to live many of the situations they hope for their son."
He stated: "The truth is, self-identity cannot be imposed from the outside influences; it must be chosen, and it must come from within."
Acquiring Englishness
Naturally, UK identity is something Adam believes can be instructed – and sold.
"I believe the situation that the international society holds us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
