"Parents located in North London wants to find an exceptional and qualified instructor to support their youngest child on his initial journey to becoming an British gentleman."
Upon seeing this post, you might readily overlook the term "first-steps" as just figurative language.
However, it might be the most important aspect of this unique job advert, as it aims to find a teacher for a one-year-old.
Hundreds of applications have now been submitted since the anonymous family advertised their search for the £180,000 per year tutor, who has to be "a uniquely qualified person".
In recent few weeks, the post has gained notice throughout the news, with several questioning why?
Innovative Idea
A tutoring expert, chief executive of an education consultancy, which is helping the family in their search, stated that despite early skepticism, he found the idea "visionary", and "innovative".
When he spoke with the family, he said they recognized the atypical aspect of their request, and how young their son is.
But, they clarified that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had waited until their firstborn was five, and by that age "cultural influence had already set in".
But what does the family refer to by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "everything", the expert responded. "How you eat, the way you speak".
He said the older sibling had absorbed "really subtle, unspoken signals" from the family, and had assumed their cultural ways. The family informed the consultant they did not want this pattern to happen again with their infant.
The plan: To bring in a UK tutor, who should speak with standard English accent, to shape the baby from day one.
Subtle Influence
"A great deal of the development at the outset here is kind of absorbed naturally," stated the CEO.
It's through this osmosis that the family are hoping the child will adopt the British traits they want to cultivate.
He said the tutor had to be somebody who went to "the appropriate educational institutions – similar types of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The instructor just has to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be carrying out things they aren't even aware they're doing, just naturally," he commented.
Cost Not Relevant
The family informed the expert the successful candidate should ideally also have understanding of or interest in riding, skiing, creative fields and musical activities so as to inspire the child in a diverse set of interests.
Furthermore though, he stated the family hoped 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 approximately three years old".
In the family's perspective, assisting their son become a "UK sophisticate" will lead to success and create opportunities.
"Considering the rights and wrongs of that, because it's definitely a social class indicator," he notes.
Yet, notwithstanding all this tutelage in "UK identity", might the child adopt alleged cultural bias from the multicultural family he resides with anyway?
"Yes", said the CEO. "They know this might not succeed, but they've simply adopted the perspective of, 'we should try and we'll proceed as early as we can', because the price of it is not a concern," he stated.
Impractical
There are some in the private teaching field who express similar concerns.
An education leader, head and founder of an educational organization, who provides personal educators, commented that "the development of adopting dual cultures, or indeed, forming one's identity, is something that must be lived into, not designed."
The expert explained that he had moved from Asia to the UK at the time of seven, and had been educated experiencing and living two backgrounds. He progressed to study at Cambridge University.
"The concept that one individual can act as a living vessel of English culture, an individual who can possibly impart the qualities of a UK sophisticate to a one-year-old child, strikes me as naive and unrealistic," he commented.
"Based on my background, having a distinctly English tutor from early childhood will does not necessarily produce the goal they want.
"I wasn't provided with such a figure, and however I have been fortunate enough to experience numerous of the opportunities they hope for their son."
He added: "The truth is, cultural identity should not be dictated from the external environment; it must be chosen, and it must originate internally."
Purchasing UK Culture
Of course, UK identity is something the expert hopes can be taught – and marketed.
"I believe the situation that the international society views us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
