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"A household based in North London seeks an remarkable and qualified tutor to support their most junior child on his first steps to growing into an English gentleman."

Looking at this listing, you might readily skip the term "initial stages" as just figurative language.

Yet, it may be the crucial element of this distinctive position posting, as it seeks to find a mentor for a one-year-old.

Many of responses have already been received since the unidentified family advertised their call for the £180k-a-year tutor, who has to be "an exceptional individual".

During the past few weeks, the advert has received attention across the media, with numerous questioning why?

Progressive Approach

Adam Caller, CEO and founder of an education consultancy, which is helping the family in their hunt, said that despite first scepticism, he viewed the plan "far sighted", and "progressive".

When he consulted the family, he noted they recognized the unconventional character of their demand, and how young their son is.

However, they explained that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had held off until their firstborn was five, and by that age "cultural bias had already become established".

What exactly did the family mean by "cultural predisposition"?

It's "everything", he replied. "The manner you eat, the way you speak".

He stated the older sibling had absorbed "very nuanced, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had assumed their cultural habits. The family explained to the consultant they wished to avoid history to happen again with their infant.

The plan: To engage a UK tutor, who needs to speak with Received Pronunciation, to shape the baby from the very start.

Natural Absorption

"A lot of the education at the beginning here is rather osmotic," explained the expert.

It's via this subtle influence that the family are hoping the child will acquire the British traits they aim to cultivate.

The consultant said the tutor needed to be someone who attended "prestigious academies – comparable categories of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".

"The instructor simply needs to be the suitable individual, they'll be carrying out things they may not realize they're doing, effortlessly," he said.

Cost Not Relevant

The family told the expert the successful candidate should ideally also have familiarity of or passion in riding, alpine skiing, artistic pursuits and instrumental training so as to shape the child in a wide range of passions.

More than that though, he stated the family desired the tutor to register the child on a variety of courses so the child would be "equestrian training and learning an instrument by the time they are about three years old".

In the family's minds, guiding their son develop into a "English gentleman" will lead to success and open doors.

"Considering the rights and wrongs of that, because it's definitely a class statement," he notes.

But, notwithstanding all this tutelage in "Britishness", might the child absorb what is termed cultural bias from the multicultural family he lives with in any case?

"Yes", said he. "The family understand this could fail, but they've just taken the view of, 'let's give it a go and we'll proceed as soon as we can', because the price of it is not relevant," he said.

Overly Optimistic

There are some in the education sector who express those reservations.

Another CEO, chief executive of a tutoring service, who provides personal educators, wrote that "the development of becoming bicultural, or in fact, discovering oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not designed."

He noted that he had moved from China to the UK at the time of childhood, and had been brought up knowing and practicing two backgrounds. He progressed to study at a prestigious UK institution.

"The concept that one individual can function as a living vessel of Britishness, an individual who can somehow impart the characteristics of a English gentleman upon a one-year-old child, appears optimistic and impractical," he stated.

"Based on my background, having a distinctly British tutor from infancy will does not necessarily create the goal they desire.

"I never had such a figure, and nevertheless I have been lucky enough to experience many of the opportunities they desire for their son."

He continued: "The reality is, cultural identity should not be imposed from the outside; it must be selected, and it must be internally driven."

Buying Britishness

Naturally, English culture is something the CEO believes can be instructed – and marketed.

"I believe the reality that the world holds us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating