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"A family located in the northern part of London wants to find an extraordinary and skilled tutor to guide their most junior child on his early path to growing into an British gentleman."

Upon seeing this advertisement, you might readily skip the phrase "first-steps" as just an expression.

However, it may be the crucial part of this unusual job advert, as it aims to find a mentor for a 12-month-old.

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

Over the last few weeks, the post has attracted interest in the media, with several asking why?

Forward-Thinking Method

The CEO, CEO and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is supporting the family in their quest, stated that notwithstanding initial doubt, he viewed the plan "far sighted", and "innovative".

When he consulted the family, he noted they understood the unusual nature of their requirement, and how early in age their son is.

But, they explained that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had postponed until their elder sibling was five, and by that age "cultural conditioning had already taken hold".

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

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

He explained the firstborn had absorbed "extremely delicate, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had taken on their cultural norms. The family explained to Adam they did not want history to recur with their new baby.

The strategy: To bring in a British tutor, who needs to speak with Received Pronunciation, to influence the baby from day one.

Osmotic Learning

"A lot of the education at the start here is rather acquired indirectly," explained the CEO.

It's via this subtle influence that the family are hoping the child will acquire the English characteristics they want to cultivate.

He said the tutor must be an individual who attended "the right kinds of schools – the same kinds of schools as the family plan to send their son to".

"The instructor just has to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be carrying out things they don't even know they're doing, just naturally," he said.

Expense Not a Factor

The family informed the expert the selected educator should preferably also have familiarity of or passion in equestrian activities, skiing, the arts and musical activities so as to inspire the child in a broad spectrum of passions.

Furthermore though, he explained the family hoped the tutor to enrol the child on a variety of lessons so the child would be "pony-riding and picking up an musical instrument by the time they are about three years old".

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

"For all the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's definitely a status symbol," he comments.

Yet, in spite of all this guidance in "UK identity", might the child absorb so-called cultural leaning from the globally influenced family he is raised by in any case?

"Yes", said Adam. "The parents realize this may not work, but they've merely embraced the perspective 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.

Impractical

Several in the education sector who share similar doubts.

An education leader, chief executive of Blue Education, who supplies private tutors, stated that "the journey of becoming bicultural, or actually, forming one's identity, is something that must be experienced personally, not designed."

He noted that he had emigrated from Asia to the UK at the age of childhood, and had been educated experiencing and living two backgrounds. He went on to learn at a prestigious UK institution.

"The notion that one individual can act as a living vessel of UK identity, an individual who can somehow transplant the attributes of a English gentleman to a 12-month-old child, seems to me idealistic and impractical," he commented.

"In my experience, having a typically English tutor from babyhood will not automatically produce the goal they hope for.

"I never had such a tutor, and yet I have been fortunate enough to enjoy numerous of the situations they aspire for their son."

He added: "The reality is, personal identity cannot be dictated from the outside influences; it must be selected, and it must come from within."

Purchasing UK Culture

Of course, English culture is something the expert believes can be educated – and sold.

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