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"A household based in North London is looking for an remarkable and qualified instructor to support their youngest child on his initial journey to becoming an British gentleman."

Upon seeing this advertisement, you might easily skip the wording "initial stages" as just an expression.

Yet, it might be the most important element of this unusual position posting, as it seeks to hire a tutor for a one-year-old.

Hundreds of applications have now been sent in since the anonymous family published their call for the highly paid tutor, who has to be "someone very special".

During the past few weeks, the listing has received interest in the press, with many questioning why?

Innovative Idea

A tutoring expert, chief executive of a global tutoring firm, which is helping the family in their search, said that in spite of first doubt, he found the plan "forward-looking", and "progressive".

When he spoke with the family, he said they recognized the atypical nature of their request, and how immature their son is.

But, they clarified that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had waited until their firstborn was five, and by that age "cultural conditioning had already set in".

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

It's "comprehensive", the expert responded. "How you eat, how you speak".

He said the older sibling had absorbed "really subtle, unspoken signals" from the family, and had adopted their cultural norms. The family informed him they hoped to prevent the same situation to repeat itself with their new baby.

The strategy: To bring in a British tutor, who should speak with Received Pronunciation, to guide the baby from day one.

Natural Absorption

"A great deal of the education at the start here is somewhat absorbed naturally," explained Adam.

It's via this osmosis that the family are aiming the child will acquire the UK customs they want to impart.

Adam noted the tutor had to be somebody who studied at "the appropriate educational institutions – comparable categories of schools as the family plan to send their son to".

"The tutor simply needs to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be doing things they may not realize they're doing, simply by nature," he said.

Cost Not Relevant

The family explained to him the selected educator should preferably also have understanding of or enthusiasm in equestrian activities, skiing, creative fields and music so as to inspire the child in a broad spectrum of interests.

Additionally though, he said the family desired the tutor to enrol the child on a variety of lessons so the child would be "horseback riding and starting an instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".

In the family's perspective, helping their son develop into a "English gentleman" will lead to achievement and open doors.

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

Yet, notwithstanding all this guidance in "English culture", could the child absorb what is termed cultural leaning from the multicultural family he resides with anyway?

"Certainly", said the CEO. "The parents know this could fail, but they've simply adopted the perspective of, 'why not attempt it and let's go as early as we can', because the expense of it is not a concern," he said.

Impractical

Several in the education sector who express similar reservations.

An education leader, CEO and founder of an educational organization, who supplies private tutors, stated that "the journey of adopting dual cultures, or in fact, forming one's identity, is something that must be lived into, not designed."

Peter explained that he had emigrated from China to the Britain at the period of childhood, and had been educated knowing and practicing dual heritages. He continued to study at a prestigious UK institution.

"The concept that a single person can act as a embodiment of UK identity, a person who can somehow transplant the qualities of a UK sophisticate to a one-year-old child, strikes me as naive and impractical," he wrote.

"From my perspective, having a quintessentially UK tutor from early childhood will does not instantly achieve the goal they hope for.

"I did not have such a figure, and nevertheless I have been privileged enough to experience many of the situations they hope for their son."

He continued: "The truth is, self-identity can not be imposed from the external environment; it must be selected, and it must come from within."

Buying Britishness

Of course, English culture is something the CEO believes can be educated – and sold.

"I think the situation that the world views us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating