"A household residing in the northern part of London wants to find an exceptional and qualified educator to support their most junior child on his early path to growing into an British gentleman."
When reading this advertisement, you might readily overlook the wording "first-steps" as just a turn of phrase.
However, it might be the most important part of this unusual position posting, as it seeks to find a tutor for a 12-month-old.
Hundreds of submissions have since been submitted since the unnamed family advertised their search for the £180k-a-year tutor, who has to be "a uniquely qualified person".
Over the last few weeks, the post has attracted notice throughout the press, with several asking why?
Forward-Thinking Method
Adam Caller, CEO and founder of an education consultancy, which is assisting the family in their search, said that despite initial doubt, he considered the idea "far sighted", and "innovative".
When he met the family, he noted they appreciated the atypical aspect of their request, and how immature their son is.
However, they clarified that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had held off until their older child was five, and by that point "cultural bias had already become established".
What precisely did the family indicate by "cultural bias"?
It's "all-encompassing", he answered. "The manner you eat, the manner you speak".
He said the older sibling had picked up "very nuanced, body language" from the family, and had assumed their cultural ways. The family explained to Adam they hoped to prevent the same situation to happen again with their younger child.
The intention: To bring in a UK tutor, who needs to speak with Received Pronunciation, to guide the baby from the very start.
Natural Absorption
"A lot of the development at the start here is kind of osmotic," said the CEO.
It's through this natural absorption that the family are aiming the child will acquire the British traits they want to cultivate.
He explained the tutor must be an individual who attended "the appropriate educational institutions – similar types of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The educator simply needs to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be carrying out things they don't even know they're doing, simply by nature," he added.
Money No Object
The family told the expert the selected educator should ideally also have knowledge of or passion in equestrian activities, skiing, creative fields and music so as to influence the child in a broad spectrum of interests.
More than that though, he stated the family desired the tutor to sign up the child on a range of lessons so the child would be "pony-riding and starting an instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's perspective, assisting their son grow into a "British gentleman" will result in accomplishment and create opportunities.
"For all the pros and cons of that, because it's certainly a status symbol," he comments.
However, notwithstanding all this instruction in "English culture", might the child adopt alleged cultural bias from the multicultural family he is raised by anyway?
"Absolutely", replied Adam. "The family realize this might not succeed, but they've merely embraced the attitude of, 'we should try and let's go as soon as we can', because the cost of it is not relevant," he said.
Impractical
A number of in the tutoring industry who have these concerns.
Another CEO, CEO and founder of a tutoring service, who provides private tutors, stated that "the process of embracing two identities, or indeed, discovering oneself, is something that must be lived into, not designed."
Peter explained that he had relocated from the Far East to the UK at the age of 7 years old, and had been brought up experiencing and living both cultures. He continued to study at a prestigious UK institution.
"The idea that an individual can act as a embodiment of English culture, someone who can somehow transplant the characteristics of a English gentleman to a one-year-old child, strikes me as optimistic and impractical," he wrote.
"From my perspective, having a typically English tutor from early childhood will does not instantly create the outcome they hope for.
"I wasn't provided with such a tutor, and nevertheless I have been privileged enough to experience several of the situations they desire for their son."
He added: "The reality is, cultural identity should not be dictated from the outside influences; it must be embraced, and it must come from within."
Purchasing UK Culture
Certainly, Britishness is something the expert thinks can be educated – and commercialized.
"In my view the situation that the world views us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
