"Parents residing in North London seeks an extraordinary and qualified educator to support their most junior child on his initial journey to growing into an English gentleman."
When reading this post, you might naturally skip the wording "first-steps" as simple a turn of phrase.
Yet, it may be the most significant element of this unusual position posting, as it aims to recruit a tutor for a 12-month-old.
Numerous of responses have since been sent in since the unidentified family published their request for the £180k-a-year tutor, who must be "someone very special".
During the past few weeks, the post has received notice in the media, with several wondering why?
Innovative Idea
Adam Caller, chief executive of an education consultancy, which is helping the family in their search, said that despite initial scepticism, he viewed the concept "far sighted", and "advanced".
When he spoke with the family, he noted they understood the unusual nature of their request, and how young their son is.
But, they clarified that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had waited until their elder sibling was five, and by that age "cultural bias had already set in".
What precisely did the family refer to by "cultural leaning"?
It's "comprehensive", the expert answered. "The way you eat, the manner you speak".
He stated the elder child had picked up "very nuanced, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had taken on their cultural habits. The family told him they wished to avoid the same situation to repeat itself with their younger child.
The plan: To bring in a British tutor, who must speak with Received Pronunciation, to guide the baby from day one.
Natural Absorption
"A great deal of the learning at the outset here is rather osmotic," said the CEO.
It's via this osmosis that the family are hoping the child will acquire the English characteristics they aim to cultivate.
Adam said the tutor needed to be somebody who went to "the appropriate educational institutions – the same kinds of schools as the family hope to send their son to".
"The instructor just has to be the suitable individual, they'll be performing things they may not realize they're doing, just naturally," he said.
Expense Not a Factor
The family explained to the expert the chosen tutor should ideally also have understanding of or passion in equestrian activities, skiing, the arts and music so as to shape the child in a broad spectrum of interests.
Additionally though, he explained the family wanted the tutor to register the child on a selection of courses so the child would be "equestrian training and picking up an musical instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's view, guiding their son develop into a "English gentleman" will lead to accomplishment and create opportunities.
"For all the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's undoubtedly a status symbol," he comments.
However, in spite of all this tutelage in "UK identity", would the child absorb so-called cultural bias from the international family he resides with anyway?
"Certainly", said he. "They know this may not work, but they've just taken the perspective of, 'let's give it a go and let's go as early as we can', because the cost of it is not relevant," he stated.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
Several in the private teaching field who express these concerns.
Peter Cui, head and founder of a tutoring service, who provides private tutors, wrote that "the journey of adopting dual cultures, or actually, discovering oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not designed."
Peter explained that he had moved from the Far East to the UK at the period of 7 years old, and had been educated experiencing and practicing dual heritages. He continued to learn at a prestigious UK institution.
"The concept that an individual can function as a representation of English culture, someone who can in some way transfer the attributes of a English gentleman onto a 12-month-old child, strikes me as idealistic and unrealistic," he commented.
"From my perspective, engaging a distinctly UK tutor from infancy will does not automatically create the outcome they want.
"I never had such a figure, and nevertheless I have been lucky enough to live several of the experiences they aspire for their son."
He stated: "The truth is, self-identity should not be dictated from the outside; it must be selected, and it must come from within."
Purchasing UK Culture
Naturally, English culture is something the CEO hopes can be instructed – and sold.
"In my view the situation that the world regards us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
