"A family based in north London seeks an remarkable and skilled instructor to guide their youngest child on his initial journey to becoming an English gentleman."
When reading this advertisement, you might naturally miss the term "first-steps" as just figurative language.
However, it could be the crucial aspect of this unusual employment listing, as it seeks to find a mentor for a infant.
Numerous of responses have since been submitted since the unnamed family published their request for the £180,000 per year tutor, who must be "someone very special".
During the past few weeks, the advert has received notice throughout the news, with many questioning why?
Innovative Idea
A tutoring expert, CEO and founder of an education consultancy, which is helping the family in their search, stated that in spite of first skepticism, he viewed the idea "forward-looking", and "progressive".
When he spoke with the family, he said they appreciated the atypical nature of their request, and how young their son is.
Nevertheless, they clarified that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to get a tutor, as they had postponed until their elder sibling was five, and by that age "cultural influence had already taken hold".
But what did the family refer to by "cultural leaning"?
It's "everything", Adam replied. "The way you eat, the manner you speak".
He stated the firstborn had adopted "extremely delicate, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had assumed their cultural habits. The family told Adam they did not want history to recur with their younger child.
The intention: To engage a English tutor, who should speak with Received Pronunciation, to guide the baby right from the beginning.
Subtle Influence
"A lot of the education at the beginning here is rather absorbed naturally," said Adam.
It's by means of this subtle influence that the family are aiming the child will pick up the British traits they want to impart.
He noted the tutor must be somebody who studied at "the right kinds of schools – 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 carrying out things they don't even know they're doing, simply by nature," he added.
Cost Not Relevant
The family explained to Adam the chosen tutor should preferably also have understanding of or passion in horse riding, alpine skiing, artistic pursuits and music so as to influence the child in a diverse set of hobbies.
Additionally though, he explained the family wanted the tutor to sign up the child on a range of lessons so the child would be "pony-riding and picking up an tool by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's view, assisting their son grow into a "UK sophisticate" will result in achievement and provide access.
"For all the rights and wrongs of that, because it's definitely a class statement," he notes.
Yet, despite all this instruction in "Britishness", could the child pick up what is termed cultural influence from the globally influenced family he resides with in any case?
"Yes", replied he. "The parents understand this may not work, but they've merely embraced the attitude of, 'why not attempt it and we should start as early as we can', because the cost of it is irrelevant," he explained.
Overly Optimistic
There are some in the tutoring industry who have similar doubts.
Another CEO, chief executive of Blue Education, who also offer individual instructors, stated that "the journey of embracing two identities, or in fact, becoming oneself, is something that must be lived into, not designed."
He explained that he had emigrated from the Far East to the UK at the time of childhood, and had been brought up understanding and practicing dual heritages. He continued to study at a prestigious UK institution.
"The concept that a single person can function as a embodiment of Britishness, someone who can somehow impart the characteristics of a British gentleman upon a infant child, strikes me as naive and unfeasible," he wrote.
"In my experience, employing a distinctly UK tutor from early childhood will not automatically produce the outcome they desire.
"I never had such a tutor, and yet I have been privileged enough to experience numerous of the experiences they hope for their son."
He continued: "The reality is, personal identity can not be imposed from the outside influences; it must be embraced, and it must be internally driven."
Buying Britishness
Naturally, UK identity is something Adam believes can be instructed – and marketed.
"I believe the situation that the world holds us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
