"A household residing in north London seeks an exceptional and skilled tutor to guide their youngest child on his initial journey to turning into an British gentleman."
Upon seeing this advertisement, you might easily skip the phrase "first-steps" as mere figurative language.
But, it could be the crucial aspect of this distinctive employment listing, as it aims to recruit a tutor for a infant.
Hundreds of applications have since been submitted since the unidentified family advertised their search for the highly paid tutor, who needs to be "someone very special".
In recent few weeks, the listing has gained interest across the press, with several questioning why?
Innovative Idea
A tutoring expert, CEO and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is supporting the family in their hunt, explained that despite initial doubt, he viewed the plan "far sighted", and "innovative".
When he met the family, he mentioned they understood the unusual aspect of their requirement, and how young their son is.
However, they stated that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had postponed until their older child was five, and by that stage "cultural influence had by then taken hold".
What exactly did the family refer to by "cultural bias"?
It's "everything", Adam replied. "How you eat, how you speak".
He explained the firstborn had adopted "extremely delicate, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had adopted their cultural habits. The family told the consultant they did not want the same situation to happen again with their infant.
The intention: To engage a English tutor, who needs to speak with Received Pronunciation, to guide the baby from day one.
Osmotic Learning
"A great deal of the learning at the outset here is rather acquired indirectly," stated Adam.
It's through this osmosis that the family are aiming the child will acquire the English characteristics they want to impart.
The consultant said the tutor needed to be somebody who attended "prestigious academies – comparable categories of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The educator simply needs to be the right kind of person, they'll be doing things they don't even know they're doing, just naturally," he commented.
Cost Not Relevant
The family told the expert the chosen tutor should preferably also have knowledge of or passion in riding, skiing, creative fields and instrumental training so as to shape the child in a diverse set of interests.
Additionally though, he explained the family hoped the tutor to sign up the child on a variety of lessons so the child would be "pony-riding and starting an musical instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's view, assisting their son develop into a "English gentleman" will bring about success and create opportunities.
"Considering the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's definitely a class statement," he adds.
However, notwithstanding all this guidance in "UK identity", could the child absorb so-called cultural influence from the international family he is raised by in any case?
"Absolutely", replied the CEO. "They understand this may not work, but they've just taken the perspective of, 'we should try and we should start as early as we can', because the price of it is not a concern," he stated.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
A number of in the private teaching field who have similar concerns.
Peter Cui, CEO and founder of a tutoring service, who provides individual instructors, commented that "the development of adopting dual cultures, or in fact, forming one's identity, is something that must be grown into, not manufactured."
The expert wrote that he had moved from China to the UK at the period of childhood, and had been educated knowing and practicing both cultures. He went on to learn at a prestigious UK institution.
"The notion that a single person can act as a embodiment of English culture, a person who can somehow impart the attributes of a English gentleman to a one-year-old child, strikes me as idealistic and unfeasible," he stated.
"From my perspective, employing a distinctly English tutor from early childhood will does not instantly achieve the outcome they hope for.
"I did not have such a tutor, and yet I have been fortunate enough to experience numerous of the situations they desire for their son."
He stated: "The truth is, self-identity cannot be imposed from the outside; it must be selected, and it must come from within."
Purchasing UK Culture
Naturally, UK identity is something the CEO hopes can be educated – and commercialized.
"I think the situation that the world regards us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
