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

When reading this post, you might naturally overlook the phrase "beginning" as mere figurative language.

Yet, it could be the crucial part of this unusual employment listing, as it aims to hire a mentor for a infant.

Numerous of submissions have now been sent in since the unnamed family published their call for the £180,000 per year tutor, who has to be "someone very special".

Over the last few weeks, the listing has attracted interest across the press, with several questioning why?

Progressive Approach

Adam Caller, head and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is supporting the family in their quest, said that notwithstanding early doubt, he viewed the idea "forward-looking", and "progressive".

When he consulted the family, he noted they recognized the unusual nature of their requirement, and how immature their son is.

However, they explained that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had held off until their older child was five, and by that point "cultural bias had already become established".

What exactly does the family indicate by "cultural predisposition"?

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

He explained the older sibling had adopted "really subtle, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had adopted their cultural ways. The family explained to the consultant they wished to avoid history to repeat itself with their new baby.

The intention: To engage a English tutor, who needs to speak with RP, to guide the baby from day one.

Subtle Influence

"A great deal of the education at the outset here is somewhat acquired indirectly," said the CEO.

It's via this subtle influence that the family are expecting the child will acquire the English characteristics they wish to impart.

He noted the tutor had to be someone who attended "prestigious academies – similar types of schools as the family plan to send their son to".

"The educator must be the suitable individual, they'll be doing things they may not realize they're doing, simply by nature," he said.

Expense Not a Factor

The family informed the expert the successful candidate should preferably also have familiarity of or enthusiasm in riding, winter sports, artistic pursuits and instrumental training so as to influence the child in a broad spectrum of passions.

More than that though, he stated the family desired the tutor to sign up the child on a variety of courses so the child would be "pony-riding and picking up an musical instrument by the time they are around three years old".

In the family's view, guiding their son grow into a "British gentleman" will bring about accomplishment and open doors.

"For all the pros and cons of that, because it's definitely a class statement," he comments.

But, despite all this instruction in "English culture", would the child absorb so-called cultural bias from the multicultural family he is raised by regardless?

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

Impractical

Several in the education sector who express those concerns.

Peter Cui, head and founder of an educational organization, who provides individual instructors, stated that "the process of embracing two identities, or indeed, forming one's identity, is something that must be experienced personally, not manufactured."

He wrote that he had emigrated from China to the Britain at the age of childhood, and had been brought up experiencing and embodying dual heritages. He went on to learn at the University of Cambridge.

"The concept that a single person can serve as a representation of UK identity, an individual who can in some way transfer the attributes of a British gentleman to a one-year-old child, seems to me idealistic and unfeasible," he wrote.

"From my perspective, employing a distinctly UK tutor from infancy will not necessarily create the goal they hope for.

"I never had that kind of mentor, and yet I have been privileged enough to live several of the situations they desire for their son."

He stated: "The reality is, personal identity should not be imposed from the outside; it must be embraced, and it must originate internally."

Acquiring Englishness

Certainly, Britishness is something the expert hopes can be taught – and marketed.

"I think the situation that the world holds us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating