"Parents residing in North London is looking for an extraordinary and qualified instructor to assist their most junior child on his early path to growing into an English gentleman."
When reading this advertisement, you might naturally miss the term "first-steps" as mere figurative language.
But, it could be the most important element of this distinctive position posting, as it seeks to recruit a mentor for a infant.
Many of responses have already been sent in since the anonymous family published their call for the highly paid tutor, who must be "someone very special".
During the past few weeks, the post has attracted attention throughout the news, with numerous questioning why?
Forward-Thinking Method
The CEO, chief executive of an education consultancy, which is assisting the family in their quest, explained that despite initial doubt, he found the idea "forward-looking", and "advanced".
When he spoke with the family, he said they appreciated the unusual character of their request, and how early in age their son is.
However, they explained that they "didn't want to wait 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 set in".
What exactly does the family mean by "cultural leaning"?
It's "all-encompassing", he replied. "The way you eat, the way you speak".
He said the firstborn had absorbed "really subtle, body language" from the family, and had taken on their cultural habits. The family told Adam they hoped to prevent the same situation to repeat itself with their new baby.
The intention: To engage a British tutor, who should speak with standard English accent, to influence the baby from day one.
Osmotic Learning
"Much of the development at the beginning here is somewhat absorbed naturally," said the expert.
It's via this subtle influence that the family are hoping the child will adopt the UK customs they want to impart.
Adam explained the tutor had to be someone who studied at "prestigious academies – comparable categories of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The tutor simply needs to be the right kind of person, they'll be doing things they may not realize they're doing, just naturally," he commented.
Cost Not Relevant
The family told him the successful candidate should ideally also have understanding of or interest in horse riding, winter sports, artistic pursuits and instrumental training so as to influence the child in a wide range of hobbies.
More than that though, he said the family hoped the tutor to enrol the child on a variety of classes so the child would be "horseback riding and starting an instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's view, helping their son develop into a "UK sophisticate" will result in success and create opportunities.
"Considering the rights and wrongs of that, because it's definitely a social class indicator," he comments.
However, notwithstanding all this guidance in "English culture", might the child pick up so-called cultural influence from the globally influenced family he lives with anyway?
"Absolutely", answered the CEO. "The parents understand this may not work, but they've simply adopted the perspective of, 'why not attempt it and let's go as quickly as we can', because the price of it is irrelevant," he stated.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
Several in the private teaching field who express those doubts.
An education leader, chief executive of Blue Education, who provides individual instructors, stated that "the development of becoming bicultural, or indeed, becoming oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not manufactured."
The expert explained that he had relocated from Asia to the United Kingdom at the period of 7 years old, and had been brought up experiencing and embodying both cultures. He went on to learn at Cambridge University.
"The concept that a single person can act as a living vessel of English culture, an individual who can in some way impart the attributes of a UK sophisticate to a one-year-old child, seems to me idealistic and unrealistic," he stated.
"Based on my background, having a distinctly British tutor from early childhood will will not automatically produce the result they hope for.
"I did not have that kind of mentor, and yet I have been fortunate enough to live many of the situations they hope for their son."
He continued: "The truth is, cultural identity should not be imposed from the outside influences; it must be embraced, and it must originate internally."
Acquiring Englishness
Certainly, UK identity is something the expert believes can be instructed – and marketed.
"In my view the reality that the global community regards us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
