"A household located in the northern part of London seeks an exceptional and skilled educator to assist their smallest child on his initial journey to becoming an English gentleman."
When reading this advertisement, you might naturally overlook the phrase "first-steps" as just a turn of phrase.
However, it could be the most significant aspect of this unique employment listing, as it seeks to hire a tutor for a one-year-old.
Many of submissions have now been sent in since the unidentified family advertised their call for the £180k-a-year tutor, who must be "a uniquely qualified person".
In recent few weeks, the post has received notice in the media, with numerous wondering why?
Innovative Idea
The CEO, chief executive of an education consultancy, which is assisting the family in their search, stated that despite initial skepticism, he viewed the idea "forward-looking", and "innovative".
When he consulted the family, he said they recognized the unusual character of their requirement, and how immature their son is.
But, they explained that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to get a tutor, as they had held off until their older child was five, and by that stage "cultural bias had already set in".
But what did the family mean by "cultural bias"?
It's "all-encompassing", he replied. "The manner you eat, how you speak".
He explained the firstborn had adopted "extremely delicate, body language" from the family, and had adopted their cultural ways. The family informed him they hoped to prevent history to recur with their new baby.
The strategy: To bring in a English tutor, who should speak with Received Pronunciation, to shape the baby right from the beginning.
Subtle Influence
"A great deal of the development at the beginning here is rather osmotic," said the CEO.
It's via this osmosis that the family are hoping the child will adopt the UK customs they aim to cultivate.
He noted the tutor had to be an individual who went to "the appropriate educational institutions – comparable categories of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The educator simply needs to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be performing things they don't even know they're doing, just naturally," he added.
Money No Object
The family explained to Adam the chosen tutor should ideally also have familiarity of or enthusiasm in equestrian activities, alpine skiing, artistic pursuits and instrumental training so as to shape the child in a diverse set of interests.
Furthermore though, he stated the family hoped the tutor to sign up the child on a variety of classes so the child would be "horseback riding and starting an musical instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's view, assisting their son develop into a "UK sophisticate" will lead to achievement and open doors.
"For all the rights and wrongs of that, because it's certainly a class statement," he adds.
However, in spite of all this guidance in "Britishness", might the child absorb alleged cultural leaning from the globally influenced family he resides with regardless?
"Certainly", answered he. "They realize this could fail, but they've merely embraced the attitude of, 'let's give it a go and we'll proceed as early as we can', because the expense of it is not a concern," he explained.
Overly Optimistic
There are some in the tutoring industry who have those reservations.
An education leader, CEO and founder of a tutoring service, who also offer private tutors, stated that "the journey of embracing two identities, or actually, becoming oneself, is something that must be lived into, not designed."
The expert noted that he had emigrated from Asia to the United Kingdom at the time of childhood, and had been educated experiencing and practicing both cultures. He went on to learn at Cambridge University.
"The notion that one individual can serve as a representation of Britishness, an individual who can in some way transfer the attributes of a UK sophisticate upon a one-year-old child, seems to me naive and unfeasible," he wrote.
"From my perspective, engaging a distinctly UK tutor from babyhood will not automatically produce the result they want.
"I did not have such a figure, and nevertheless I have been fortunate enough to enjoy many of the opportunities they aspire for their son."
He added: "The fact is, personal identity can not be dictated from the outside; it must be selected, and it must come from within."
Buying Britishness
Naturally, Britishness is something the CEO thinks can be instructed – and commercialized.
"In my view the situation that the international society regards us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
