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"A family based in North London seeks an remarkable and experienced instructor to support their most junior child on his early path to becoming an English gentleman."

Upon seeing this listing, you might naturally skip the term "beginning" as mere figurative language.

Yet, it may be the most significant part of this unique job advert, as it attempts to recruit a teacher for a infant.

Many of submissions have already been received 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 notice throughout the press, with numerous wondering why?

Forward-Thinking Method

Adam Caller, chief executive of Tutors International, which is assisting the family in their search, stated that in spite of first doubt, he viewed the plan "forward-looking", and "innovative".

When he consulted the family, he noted they recognized the unusual character of their demand, and how young their son is.

But, they clarified that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had postponed until their firstborn was five, and by that point "cultural bias had already taken hold".

What precisely does the family mean by "cultural predisposition"?

It's "all-encompassing", he replied. "How you eat, how you speak".

He stated the elder child had adopted "really subtle, body language" from the family, and had assumed their cultural habits. The family explained to him they hoped to prevent the same situation to happen again with their younger child.

The strategy: To bring in a UK tutor, who should speak with RP, to influence the baby right from the beginning.

Subtle Influence

"A lot of the development at the beginning here is kind of osmotic," explained the expert.

It's via this natural absorption that the family are expecting the child will adopt the UK customs they aim to instil.

The consultant said the tutor needed to be somebody who attended "the appropriate educational institutions – comparable categories of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".

"The tutor just has to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be doing things they don't even know they're doing, simply by nature," he commented.

Expense Not a Factor

The family told the expert the successful candidate should preferably also have knowledge of or enthusiasm in riding, winter sports, the arts and instrumental training so as to inspire the child in a diverse set of hobbies.

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

In the family's perspective, helping their son become a "British gentleman" will lead to achievement and create opportunities.

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

Yet, notwithstanding all this guidance in "English culture", could the child absorb alleged cultural leaning from the globally influenced family he lives with anyway?

"Yes", said Adam. "They realize this could fail, but they've just taken the view of, 'let's give it a go and let's go as soon as we can', because the price of it is not a concern," he stated.

Impractical

There are some in the education sector who have these reservations.

Another CEO, chief executive of an educational organization, who supplies private tutors, wrote that "the process of adopting dual cultures, or indeed, becoming oneself, is something that must be grown into, not engineered."

He wrote that he had emigrated from China to the Britain at the time of seven, and had been brought up knowing and embodying both cultures. He continued to learn at a prestigious UK institution.

"The notion that an individual can function as a representation of Britishness, a person who can somehow impart the qualities of a English gentleman upon a one-year-old child, seems to me naive and unrealistic," he wrote.

"From my perspective, employing a distinctly British tutor from infancy will not automatically produce the goal they desire.

"I never had that kind of mentor, and nevertheless I have been lucky enough to enjoy several of the opportunities they desire for their son."

He added: "The reality is, personal identity can not be dictated from the external environment; it must be embraced, and it must come from within."

Acquiring Englishness

Naturally, English culture is something the expert thinks can be instructed – and sold.

"I believe the reality that the global community regards us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating