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"A family based in the northern part of London wants to find an extraordinary and qualified instructor to guide their smallest child on his initial journey to turning into an English gentleman."

Upon seeing this post, you might readily overlook the wording "initial stages" as simple figurative language.

However, it may be the most significant element of this unusual employment listing, as it aims to hire a teacher for a 12-month-old.

Hundreds of responses have already been submitted since the anonymous family advertised their request for the highly paid tutor, who needs to be "someone very special".

During the past few weeks, the post has received notice throughout the media, with many questioning why?

Forward-Thinking Method

Adam Caller, head and founder of an education consultancy, which is supporting the family in their search, said that notwithstanding early doubt, he viewed the idea "far sighted", and "advanced".

When he met the family, he mentioned they appreciated the unconventional character of their requirement, and how immature their son is.

Nevertheless, they explained 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 point "cultural bias had already set in".

What exactly does the family mean by "cultural bias"?

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

He stated the older sibling 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 infant.

The intention: To hire a English tutor, who needs to speak with Received Pronunciation, to influence the baby right from the beginning.

Osmotic Learning

"A great deal of the learning at the outset here is rather absorbed naturally," explained the CEO.

It's via this subtle influence that the family are aiming the child will pick up the English characteristics they want to instil.

He noted the tutor needed to be someone who attended "prestigious academies – the same kinds of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".

"The tutor must be the suitable individual, they'll be carrying out things they aren't even aware they're doing, just naturally," he said.

Cost Not Relevant

The family told Adam the successful candidate should preferably also have familiarity of or passion in riding, skiing, creative fields and musical activities so as to shape the child in a broad spectrum of passions.

More than that though, he explained the family hoped the tutor to enrol the child on a selection of classes so the child would be "horseback riding and picking up an tool by the time they are about three years old".

In the family's perspective, guiding their son become a "UK sophisticate" will result in success and open doors.

"For all the pros and cons of that, because it's undoubtedly a status symbol," he adds.

Yet, in spite of all this guidance in "Britishness", would the child absorb so-called cultural bias from the international family he lives with in any case?

"Certainly", said Adam. "The parents know this may not work, but they've just taken the attitude of, 'we should try and we'll proceed as soon as we can', because the cost of it is not a concern," he stated.

Impractical

Several in the education sector who share those reservations.

Peter Cui, chief executive of Blue Education, who provides private tutors, wrote that "the journey of embracing two identities, or actually, forming one's identity, is something that must be grown into, not manufactured."

He noted that he had moved from the Far East to the United Kingdom at the age of seven, and had been raised experiencing and embodying both cultures. He continued to be educated at Cambridge University.

"The concept that an individual can act as a embodiment of English culture, an individual who can possibly impart the characteristics of a English gentleman onto a infant child, strikes me as optimistic and unfeasible," he stated.

"In my experience, engaging a typically UK tutor from babyhood will does not automatically achieve the result they desire.

"I wasn't provided with such a tutor, and yet I have been fortunate enough to enjoy many of the opportunities they desire for their son."

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

Purchasing UK Culture

Certainly, Britishness is something the expert hopes can be educated – and sold.

"I believe the reality that the world holds us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating