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"A household based in north London is looking for an exceptional and skilled tutor to guide their most junior child on his first steps to turning into an British gentleman."

When reading this post, you might easily overlook the phrase "first-steps" as simple figurative language.

However, it may be the most significant element of this distinctive position posting, as it attempts to recruit a teacher for a one-year-old.

Many of applications have already been received since the unnamed family advertised their request for the £180,000 per year tutor, who must be "someone very special".

Over the last few weeks, the post has received attention in the press, with several wondering why?

Innovative Idea

The CEO, chief executive of an education consultancy, which is supporting the family in their search, said that in spite of initial scepticism, he viewed the idea "far sighted", and "progressive".

When he spoke with the family, he noted they appreciated the atypical aspect of their request, and how early in age their son is.

Nevertheless, they stated that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had waited until their older child was five, and by that stage "cultural influence had already set in".

What precisely does the family refer to by "cultural bias"?

It's "all-encompassing", the expert answered. "The manner you eat, how you speak".

He explained the elder child had picked up "really subtle, body language" from the family, and had taken on their cultural habits. The family explained to the consultant they wished to avoid the same situation to recur with their younger child.

The strategy: To engage a British tutor, who should speak with Received Pronunciation, to shape the baby right from the beginning.

Subtle Influence

"Much of the development at the start here is rather acquired indirectly," explained the CEO.

It's by means of this subtle influence that the family are hoping the child will acquire the UK customs they want to cultivate.

Adam said the tutor must be an individual who studied at "prestigious academies – comparable categories of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".

"The educator must be the appropriate candidate, they'll be doing things they aren't even aware they're doing, simply by nature," he said.

Money No Object

The family told Adam the chosen tutor should ideally also have understanding of or passion in horse riding, skiing, the arts and music so as to influence the child in a broad spectrum of passions.

More than that though, he said the family hoped the tutor to sign up the child on a selection of courses so the child would be "horseback riding and learning an musical instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".

In the family's view, helping their son become a "English gentleman" will bring about achievement and provide access.

"Taking into account the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's definitely a class statement," he comments.

But, in spite of all this guidance in "UK identity", might the child absorb alleged cultural influence from the multicultural family he lives with in any case?

"Yes", said the CEO. "The family realize this could fail, but they've simply adopted the perspective of, 'let's give it a go and we should start as soon as we can', because the expense of it is irrelevant," he stated.

Impractical

A number of in the tutoring industry who express similar doubts.

An education leader, chief executive of Blue Education, who provides personal educators, wrote that "the process of adopting dual cultures, or indeed, discovering oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not engineered."

The expert wrote that he had relocated from China to the UK at the time of 7 years old, and had been educated understanding and living two backgrounds. He went on to learn at a prestigious UK institution.

"The notion that one individual can function as a living vessel of Britishness, an individual who can in some way transfer the attributes of a UK sophisticate upon a 12-month-old child, seems to me optimistic and unrealistic," he wrote.

"Based on my background, employing a typically British tutor from early childhood will will not necessarily achieve the result they want.

"I never had such a tutor, and however I have been lucky enough to live numerous of the opportunities they aspire for their son."

He stated: "The truth is, personal identity should not be imposed from the outside; it must be chosen, and it must originate internally."

Acquiring Englishness

Of course, Britishness is something Adam thinks can be educated – and sold.

"In my view the reality that the international society views us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating