"Parents residing in North London is looking for an extraordinary and qualified instructor to guide their youngest child on his early path to becoming an English gentleman."
Looking at this post, you might easily miss the wording "first-steps" as mere a turn of phrase.
Yet, it might be the crucial element of this unusual employment listing, as it aims to recruit a tutor for a one-year-old.
Hundreds of submissions have since been sent in since the unnamed family posted their request for the £180k-a-year tutor, who needs to be "a uniquely qualified person".
In recent few weeks, the post has received interest in the media, with numerous asking why?
Progressive Approach
The CEO, chief executive of a global tutoring firm, which is assisting the family in their quest, said that despite initial skepticism, he considered the idea "far sighted", and "innovative".
When he consulted the family, he noted they recognized the atypical character of their requirement, and how immature their son is.
However, they clarified that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to get a tutor, as they had waited until their older child was five, and by that age "cultural conditioning had already set in".
What exactly did the family indicate by "cultural leaning"?
It's "all-encompassing", the expert replied. "How you eat, the manner you speak".
He stated the older sibling had adopted "extremely delicate, unspoken signals" from the family, and had adopted their cultural habits. The family explained to the consultant they hoped to prevent the same situation to repeat itself with their infant.
The plan: To bring in a UK tutor, who should speak with standard English accent, to guide the baby from day one.
Osmotic Learning
"A lot of the learning at the outset here is rather osmotic," said the CEO.
It's by means of this osmosis that the family are aiming the child will pick up the UK customs they want to cultivate.
The consultant noted the tutor had to be an individual who studied at "the right kinds of schools – comparable categories of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The tutor just has to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be doing things they aren't even aware they're doing, effortlessly," he commented.
Expense Not a Factor
The family informed him the chosen tutor should ideally also have understanding of or interest in horse riding, alpine skiing, artistic pursuits and music so as to shape the child in a broad spectrum of passions.
Furthermore though, he explained the family hoped the tutor to register the child on a selection of lessons so the child would be "equestrian training and learning an musical instrument by the time they are about three years old".
In the family's view, helping their son become a "English gentleman" will result in achievement and open doors.
"Taking into account the rights and wrongs of that, because it's certainly a status symbol," he notes.
But, notwithstanding all this guidance in "UK identity", might the child adopt alleged cultural influence from the globally influenced family he resides with in any case?
"Absolutely", said the CEO. "The family understand this might not succeed, but they've simply adopted the perspective of, 'we should try and we'll proceed as quickly as we can', because the cost of it is not relevant," he stated.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
There are some in the education sector who have similar concerns.
An education leader, CEO and founder of an educational organization, who provides individual instructors, commented that "the journey of embracing two identities, or actually, forming one's identity, is something that must be lived into, not manufactured."
Peter noted that he had moved from the Far East to the United Kingdom at the time of childhood, and had been educated knowing and practicing both cultures. He continued to be educated at the University of Cambridge.
"The notion that an individual can function as a representation of Britishness, someone who can somehow transplant the qualities of a UK sophisticate onto a one-year-old child, seems to me naive and impractical," he commented.
"Based on my background, engaging a quintessentially British tutor from infancy will not automatically create the result they hope for.
"I never had that kind of mentor, and yet I have been fortunate enough to experience many of the opportunities they desire for their son."
He continued: "The reality is, self-identity should not be forced from the outside influences; it must be chosen, and it must be internally driven."
Buying Britishness
Certainly, Britishness is something the expert believes can be instructed – and marketed.
"I think the fact that the international society holds us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
