"A family located in north London wants to find an extraordinary and qualified instructor to guide their smallest child on his early path to growing into an English gentleman."
Upon seeing this advertisement, you might naturally skip the phrase "first-steps" as mere an expression.
However, it might be the most significant part of this distinctive position posting, as it aims to find a tutor for a infant.
Numerous of submissions have since been sent in since the anonymous family published their search for the £180k-a-year tutor, who has to be "an exceptional individual".
During the past few weeks, the post has received notice in the press, with many asking why?
Forward-Thinking Method
A tutoring expert, chief executive of Tutors International, which is supporting the family in their quest, stated that in spite of initial skepticism, he viewed the plan "visionary", and "innovative".
When he consulted the family, he mentioned they appreciated the unconventional character of their requirement, and how early in age their son is.
Nevertheless, they explained that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to get a tutor, as they had waited until their elder sibling was five, and by that age "cultural bias had already become established".
What precisely did the family mean by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "comprehensive", Adam responded. "The manner you eat, the manner you speak".
He explained the firstborn had picked up "extremely delicate, body language" from the family, and had taken on their cultural ways. The family informed him they wished to avoid this pattern to repeat itself with their younger child.
The plan: To engage a English tutor, who must speak with RP, to guide the baby right from the beginning.
Osmotic Learning
"Much of the education at the outset here is kind of acquired indirectly," explained the expert.
It's through this subtle influence that the family are hoping the child will acquire the UK customs they want to impart.
He noted the tutor needed to be somebody who went to "the appropriate educational institutions – comparable categories of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The instructor simply needs to be the right kind of person, they'll be performing things they may not realize they're doing, just naturally," he added.
Money No Object
The family informed the expert the chosen tutor should preferably also have familiarity of or passion in horse riding, skiing, artistic pursuits and music so as to inspire the child in a diverse set of hobbies.
More than that though, he stated the family wanted 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 approximately three years old".
In the family's minds, guiding their son grow into a "British gentleman" will result in achievement and open doors.
"For all the pros and cons of that, because it's definitely a status symbol," he notes.
Yet, notwithstanding all this instruction in "English culture", might the child absorb alleged cultural bias from the multicultural family he lives with regardless?
"Certainly", answered Adam. "The parents understand this could fail, but they've simply adopted the attitude of, 'we should try and we'll proceed as soon as we can', because the expense of it is not a concern," he explained.
Impractical
There are some in the tutoring industry who share those concerns.
Another CEO, CEO and founder of a tutoring service, who provides personal educators, commented that "the process of adopting dual cultures, or indeed, forming one's identity, is something that must be grown into, not engineered."
Peter explained that he had relocated from the Far East to the UK at the age of seven, and had been brought up knowing and embodying both cultures. He continued to be educated at Cambridge University.
"The concept that a single person can serve as a representation of UK identity, an individual who can in some way impart the characteristics of a UK sophisticate upon a infant child, appears optimistic and unfeasible," he commented.
"From my perspective, engaging a distinctly English tutor from babyhood will not instantly produce the outcome they hope for.
"I did not have such a figure, and yet I have been privileged enough to live several of the experiences they desire for their son."
He added: "The truth is, self-identity can not be forced from the outside; it must be selected, and it must come from within."
Buying Britishness
Of course, English culture is something the expert thinks can be educated – and sold.
"In my view the reality that the world views us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
