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"A family residing in North London is looking for an extraordinary and skilled tutor to guide their smallest child on his first steps to growing into an English gentleman."

When reading this listing, you might readily miss the term "initial stages" as mere figurative language.

However, it could be the most important aspect of this unusual employment listing, as it seeks to recruit a tutor for a one-year-old.

Hundreds of applications have since been received since the unnamed family published their search for the £180k-a-year tutor, who must be "an exceptional individual".

During the past few weeks, the post has received attention throughout the press, with many asking why?

Forward-Thinking Method

The CEO, chief executive of Tutors International, which is assisting the family in their hunt, stated that in spite of early doubt, he viewed the idea "far sighted", and "innovative".

When he consulted the family, he said they appreciated the unconventional aspect of their request, and how young their son is.

However, they explained that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had held off until their elder sibling was five, and by that age "cultural influence had already taken hold".

But what does the family indicate by "cultural predisposition"?

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

He stated the elder child had picked up "very nuanced, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had adopted their cultural habits. The family explained to him they hoped to prevent this pattern to happen again with their new baby.

The strategy: To engage a English 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 start here is somewhat absorbed naturally," stated the CEO.

It's by means of this subtle influence that the family are expecting the child will pick up the English characteristics they want to impart.

He said the tutor needed to be somebody who studied at "prestigious academies – the same kinds of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".

"The educator simply needs to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be performing things they aren't even aware they're doing, simply by nature," he added.

Cost Not Relevant

The family informed Adam the selected educator should ideally also have familiarity of or enthusiasm in horse riding, winter sports, artistic pursuits and musical activities so as to shape the child in a wide range of passions.

Furthermore though, he stated the family desired the tutor to register the child on a selection of classes so the child would be "equestrian training and starting an instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".

In the family's minds, assisting their son develop into a "British gentleman" will result in accomplishment and open doors.

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

However, despite all this guidance in "UK identity", might the child absorb so-called cultural leaning from the multicultural family he is raised by anyway?

"Yes", replied he. "The family understand this might not succeed, but they've merely embraced the perspective of, 'why not attempt it and we should start as quickly as we can', because the price of it is not relevant," he explained.

Overly Optimistic

There are some in the education sector who express similar concerns.

An education leader, chief executive of a tutoring service, who provides personal educators, stated that "the process of embracing two identities, or in fact, discovering oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not manufactured."

The expert wrote that he had emigrated from the Far East to the United Kingdom at the time of seven, and had been raised experiencing and living dual heritages. He went on to study at the University of Cambridge.

"The idea that one individual can act as a living vessel of Britishness, an individual who can possibly impart the characteristics of a British gentleman onto a infant child, appears idealistic and unrealistic," he wrote.

"Based on my background, employing a quintessentially UK tutor from infancy will not automatically achieve the outcome they desire.

"I did not have such a figure, and nevertheless I have been fortunate enough to experience several of the opportunities they aspire for their son."

He stated: "The truth is, cultural identity cannot 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 expert hopes can be instructed – and commercialized.

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