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"A household based in North London wants to find an extraordinary and experienced educator to assist their youngest child on his initial journey to growing into an British gentleman."

Looking at this post, you might naturally miss the phrase "first-steps" as mere figurative language.

Yet, it might be the most significant aspect of this unique employment listing, as it attempts to hire a tutor for a 12-month-old.

Many of submissions have already been received since the unidentified family advertised their search for the highly paid tutor, who has to be "a uniquely qualified person".

During the past few weeks, the post has attracted notice across the press, with numerous asking why?

Progressive Approach

Adam Caller, head and founder of an education consultancy, which is supporting the family in their search, stated that despite initial skepticism, he considered the idea "visionary", and "innovative".

When he spoke with the family, he noted they understood the unusual aspect of their demand, and how young their son is.

Nevertheless, they explained that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to get a tutor, as they had held off until their elder sibling was five, and by that point "cultural bias had already taken hold".

What exactly did the family refer to by "cultural leaning"?

It's "everything", he responded. "The way you eat, the way you speak".

He stated the elder child had picked up "really subtle, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had adopted their cultural ways. The family told him they wished to avoid this pattern to recur with their younger child.

The plan: To bring in a English tutor, who must speak with Received Pronunciation, to guide the baby from day one.

Natural Absorption

"Much of the learning at the beginning here is somewhat osmotic," stated the CEO.

It's through this subtle influence that the family are aiming the child will pick up the English characteristics they aim to impart.

He explained the tutor must be an individual who studied at "the right kinds of schools – similar types of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".

"The tutor just has to be the suitable individual, they'll be performing things they may not realize they're doing, just naturally," he added.

Money No Object

The family told Adam the successful candidate should ideally also have knowledge of or interest in horse riding, alpine skiing, artistic pursuits and instrumental training so as to inspire the child in a broad spectrum of hobbies.

Furthermore though, he stated the family wanted the tutor to enrol the child on a variety of classes so the child would be "pony-riding and picking up an tool by the time they are around three years old".

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

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

But, in spite of all this tutelage in "Britishness", might the child adopt what is termed cultural leaning from the globally influenced family he resides with anyway?

"Yes", answered Adam. "The parents realize this may not work, but they've just taken the view of, 'let's give it a go and we should start as soon as we can', because the price of it is not a concern," he said.

Overly Optimistic

Several in the tutoring industry who express similar concerns.

Peter Cui, CEO and founder of an educational organization, who supplies individual instructors, stated that "the development of adopting dual cultures, or indeed, discovering oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not designed."

Peter explained that he had moved from Asia to the Britain at the time of seven, and had been educated experiencing and practicing dual heritages. He continued to learn at Cambridge University.

"The notion that an individual can serve as a embodiment of UK identity, an individual who can possibly transplant the characteristics of a English gentleman to a one-year-old child, seems to me naive and impractical," he commented.

"In my experience, engaging a distinctly British tutor from infancy will does not instantly produce the outcome they want.

"I did not have such a tutor, and yet I have been privileged enough to experience several of the situations they aspire for their son."

He stated: "The truth is, cultural identity can not be forced from the outside influences; it must be chosen, and it must be internally driven."

Buying Britishness

Of course, UK identity is something the CEO hopes can be instructed – and marketed.

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