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"A family located in north London wants to find an extraordinary and qualified tutor to guide their most junior child on his first steps to turning into an British gentleman."

Upon seeing this advertisement, you might readily miss the wording "initial stages" as mere figurative language.

However, it might be the most significant element of this distinctive employment listing, as it seeks to find a mentor for a one-year-old.

Hundreds of applications have already been submitted since the unnamed family posted their request for the £180k-a-year tutor, who has to be "someone very special".

In recent few weeks, the listing has attracted attention across the news, with many questioning why?

Progressive Approach

A tutoring expert, head and founder of an education consultancy, which is assisting the family in their quest, stated that in spite of early scepticism, he found the idea "visionary", and "progressive".

When he consulted the family, he mentioned they appreciated the unconventional aspect of their demand, and how early in age their son is.

But, they stated that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had postponed until their elder sibling was five, and by that stage "cultural conditioning had by then become established".

What precisely did the family mean by "cultural leaning"?

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

He said the elder child had picked up "very nuanced, body language" from the family, and had adopted their cultural ways. The family told Adam they wished to avoid this pattern to happen again with their new baby.

The strategy: To bring in a British tutor, who should speak with RP, to influence the baby from the very start.

Natural Absorption

"A great deal of the education at the beginning here is kind of acquired indirectly," said the expert.

It's by means of this subtle influence that the family are hoping the child will acquire the British traits they want to impart.

Adam explained the tutor had to be somebody who went to "the right kinds of schools – the same kinds of schools as the family hope to send their son to".

"The educator just has to be the right kind of person, they'll be doing things they may not realize they're doing, effortlessly," he commented.

Money No Object

The family informed Adam the chosen tutor should ideally also have knowledge of or passion in riding, alpine skiing, creative fields and instrumental training so as to influence the child in a broad spectrum of interests.

Additionally though, he said the family hoped the tutor to enrol the child on a selection of courses so the child would be "horseback riding and learning an tool by the time they are about three years old".

In the family's view, helping their son develop into a "UK sophisticate" will bring about achievement and create opportunities.

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

However, in spite of all this guidance in "English culture", could the child absorb what is termed cultural leaning from the international family he lives with anyway?

"Absolutely", replied he. "The parents understand this may not work, but they've just taken the attitude of, 'let's give it a go and we'll proceed as quickly as we can', because the cost of it is irrelevant," he said.

Overly Optimistic

There are some in the private teaching field who share similar doubts.

An education leader, head and founder of an educational organization, who also offer personal educators, commented that "the development of adopting dual cultures, or in fact, discovering oneself, is something that must be grown into, not designed."

He noted that he had emigrated from Asia to the Britain at the period of seven, and had been raised experiencing and living dual heritages. He went on to be educated at a prestigious UK institution.

"The idea that one individual can act as a living vessel of Britishness, someone who can somehow transfer the characteristics of a English gentleman onto a infant child, seems to me optimistic and unfeasible," he commented.

"Based on my background, having a distinctly English tutor from infancy will not automatically create the outcome they desire.

"I wasn't provided with such a tutor, and however I have been lucky enough to experience numerous of the experiences they aspire for their son."

He stated: "The fact is, self-identity cannot be imposed from the outside; it must be selected, and it must be internally driven."

Acquiring Englishness

Certainly, UK identity is something the CEO believes can be taught – and commercialized.

"I believe the situation that the international society regards us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating