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"Parents residing in north London wants to find an extraordinary and skilled tutor to guide their most junior child on his first steps to turning into an English gentleman."

When reading this listing, you might naturally skip the phrase "first-steps" as simple a turn of phrase.

Yet, it might be the crucial part of this unique position posting, as it seeks to recruit a mentor for a infant.

Hundreds of applications have already been sent in since the anonymous family advertised their call for the £180,000 per year tutor, who must be "an exceptional individual".

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

Innovative Idea

Adam Caller, chief executive of a global tutoring firm, which is assisting the family in their hunt, explained that despite initial doubt, he found the concept "forward-looking", and "progressive".

When he spoke with the family, he mentioned they appreciated the unconventional nature of their requirement, and how young their son is.

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

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

It's "all-encompassing", the expert replied. "How you eat, the way you speak".

He said the elder child had adopted "really subtle, body language" from the family, and had taken on their cultural ways. The family informed the consultant they wished to avoid this pattern to recur with their infant.

The strategy: To hire a British tutor, who needs to speak with Received Pronunciation, to guide the baby right from the beginning.

Subtle Influence

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

It's via this natural absorption that the family are expecting the child will adopt the British traits they want to cultivate.

He noted the tutor needed to be somebody who went to "the right kinds of schools – comparable categories 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 doing things they don't even know they're doing, just naturally," he added.

Money No Object

The family told the expert the chosen tutor should ideally also have knowledge of or interest in riding, skiing, artistic pursuits and instrumental training so as to influence the child in a wide range of hobbies.

Furthermore though, he explained the family wanted the tutor to register the child on a range of classes so the child would be "pony-riding and learning an tool by the time they are around three years old".

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

"Considering the pros and cons of that, because it's definitely a status symbol," he comments.

However, despite all this tutelage in "Britishness", could the child pick up what is termed cultural bias from the globally influenced family he resides with in any case?

"Yes", replied the CEO. "They understand this may not work, but they've simply adopted the perspective of, 'let's give it a go and we should start as early as we can', because the expense of it is not relevant," he stated.

Impractical

There are some in the private teaching field who express these reservations.

An education leader, CEO and founder of a tutoring service, who also offer individual instructors, commented that "the process of adopting dual cultures, or in fact, forming one's identity, is something that must be grown into, not designed."

The expert noted that he had relocated from the Far East to the UK at the period of seven, and had been raised knowing and embodying dual heritages. He progressed to learn at a prestigious UK institution.

"The concept that an individual can serve as a representation of English culture, an individual who can somehow transplant the attributes of a British gentleman to a 12-month-old child, seems to me naive and unfeasible," he stated.

"In my experience, employing a quintessentially UK tutor from babyhood will will not necessarily create the outcome they want.

"I did not have that kind of mentor, and nevertheless I have been lucky enough to live many of the situations they hope for their son."

He continued: "The truth is, self-identity cannot be imposed from the outside influences; it must be chosen, and it must originate internally."

Buying Britishness

Of course, UK identity is something Adam believes can be instructed – and sold.

"In my view the situation that the world views us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating