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"Parents based in North London is looking for an exceptional and skilled tutor to assist their most junior child on his first steps to becoming an English gentleman."

When reading this post, you might easily skip the wording "initial stages" as mere a turn of phrase.

But, it may be the most significant aspect of this unusual employment listing, as it attempts to recruit a teacher for a one-year-old.

Hundreds of applications have already been received since the unnamed family posted their request for the £180k-a-year tutor, who needs to be "an exceptional individual".

In recent few weeks, the post has attracted notice across the press, with several wondering why?

Innovative Idea

Adam Caller, head and founder of an education consultancy, which is supporting the family in their quest, said that in spite of initial scepticism, he viewed the plan "visionary", and "advanced".

When he spoke with the family, he said they recognized the unconventional aspect of their request, and how young their son is.

Nevertheless, they stated that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had waited until their elder sibling was five, and by that stage "cultural influence had by then set in".

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

It's "all-encompassing", Adam responded. "The way you eat, how you speak".

He said the firstborn had picked up "very nuanced, unspoken signals" from the family, and had assumed their cultural ways. The family explained to him they did not want history to recur with their new baby.

The intention: To bring in a English tutor, who needs to speak with Received Pronunciation, to shape the baby from the very start.

Subtle Influence

"A lot of the learning at the beginning here is kind of osmotic," explained Adam.

It's via this natural absorption that the family are aiming the child will adopt the British traits they want to impart.

The consultant said the tutor needed to be an individual who attended "prestigious academies – similar types of schools as the family plan to send their son to".

"The educator must be the suitable individual, they'll be doing things they may not realize they're doing, simply by nature," he added.

Cost Not Relevant

The family explained to the expert the selected educator should preferably also have familiarity of or interest in horse riding, skiing, artistic pursuits and musical activities so as to inspire the child in a broad spectrum of hobbies.

More than that though, he stated the family hoped the tutor to register the child on a selection of courses so the child would be "pony-riding and picking up an instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".

In the family's view, helping their son develop into a "English gentleman" will result in accomplishment and create opportunities.

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

However, notwithstanding all this tutelage in "Britishness", might the child adopt what is termed cultural influence from the globally influenced family he is raised by regardless?

"Yes", said he. "They realize this might not succeed, but they've just taken the attitude of, 'why not attempt it and we should start as soon as we can', because the expense of it is not relevant," he said.

Idealistic and Unrealistic

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

Another CEO, chief executive of a tutoring service, who supplies private tutors, commented that "the journey of adopting dual cultures, or actually, becoming oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not manufactured."

Peter explained that he had relocated from China to the Britain at the period of 7 years old, and had been brought up knowing and living dual heritages. He progressed to be educated at the University of Cambridge.

"The notion that one individual can serve as a representation of Britishness, someone who can possibly transplant the characteristics of a British gentleman upon a 12-month-old child, strikes me as idealistic and impractical," he wrote.

"In my experience, engaging a quintessentially British tutor from early childhood will not automatically achieve the goal they hope for.

"I never had that kind of mentor, and yet I have been lucky enough to enjoy several of the situations they aspire for their son."

He continued: "The truth is, self-identity should not be imposed from the external environment; it must be chosen, and it must be internally driven."

Acquiring Englishness

Naturally, Britishness is something the expert believes can be instructed – and sold.

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