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"Parents located in north London wants to find an remarkable and skilled tutor to support their most junior child on his first steps to growing into an English gentleman."

Upon seeing this advertisement, you might easily overlook the term "beginning" as simple an expression.

Yet, it might be the most important part of this distinctive position posting, as it seeks to hire a mentor for a 12-month-old.

Hundreds of submissions have since been submitted since the unnamed family posted their search for the £180,000 per year tutor, who must be "a uniquely qualified person".

Over the last few weeks, the post has attracted attention in the press, with many asking why?

Innovative Idea

A tutoring expert, CEO and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is helping the family in their search, stated that despite early doubt, he viewed the concept "far sighted", and "innovative".

When he spoke with the family, he noted they recognized the unusual character of their demand, and how immature their son is.

Nevertheless, they stated 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 stage "cultural conditioning had already set in".

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

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

He said the elder child had adopted "extremely delicate, unspoken signals" from the family, and had adopted their cultural habits. The family informed the consultant they hoped to prevent this pattern to repeat itself with their infant.

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

Subtle Influence

"Much of the education at the start here is somewhat acquired indirectly," explained the expert.

It's via this subtle influence that the family are expecting the child will adopt the British traits they want to instil.

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

"The instructor just has to be the right kind of person, they'll be carrying out things they aren't even aware they're doing, just naturally," he commented.

Expense Not a Factor

The family told him the chosen tutor should preferably also have understanding of or interest in horse riding, skiing, artistic pursuits and music so as to shape the child in a diverse set of interests.

Additionally 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 starting an musical instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".

In the family's view, guiding their son become a "English gentleman" will result in success and create opportunities.

"Taking into account the pros and cons of that, because it's certainly a social class indicator," he comments.

But, despite all this tutelage in "UK identity", could the child pick up alleged cultural bias from the multicultural family he is raised by in any case?

"Yes", said Adam. "The parents realize this could fail, but they've just taken the attitude of, 'we should try and let's go as early as we can', because the expense of it is irrelevant," he said.

Impractical

Several in the private teaching field who share those concerns.

Another CEO, CEO and founder of Blue Education, who supplies private tutors, wrote that "the process of becoming bicultural, or actually, forming one's identity, is something that must be experienced personally, not manufactured."

The expert wrote that he had emigrated from China to the Britain at the period of seven, and had been raised knowing and embodying both cultures. He continued to study at Cambridge University.

"The idea that an individual can serve as a living vessel of UK identity, an individual who can possibly transfer the characteristics of a English gentleman onto a 12-month-old child, strikes me as idealistic and unrealistic," he commented.

"In my experience, having a quintessentially British tutor from infancy will not necessarily produce the result they want.

"I did not have that kind of mentor, and yet I have been fortunate enough to enjoy several of the experiences they desire for their son."

He added: "The fact is, cultural identity should not be imposed from the outside; it must be selected, and it must come from within."

Buying Britishness

Of course, UK identity is something the expert hopes can be instructed – and commercialized.

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