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"Parents based in North London wants to find an extraordinary and experienced educator to support their most junior child on his first steps to growing into an British gentleman."

Upon seeing this listing, you might naturally overlook the wording "beginning" as simple a turn of phrase.

Yet, it might be the most important aspect of this unusual job advert, as it seeks to recruit a teacher for a 12-month-old.

Numerous of applications have now been received since the unidentified family posted their request for the £180,000 per year tutor, who has to be "an exceptional individual".

Over the last few weeks, the post has attracted notice across the press, with many asking why?

Forward-Thinking Method

A tutoring expert, CEO and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is supporting the family in their search, explained that notwithstanding first skepticism, he found the concept "visionary", and "innovative".

When he spoke with the family, he mentioned they appreciated the atypical aspect of their request, and how young their son is.

But, they stated that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had waited until their older child was five, and by that point "cultural conditioning had already set in".

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

It's "comprehensive", the expert replied. "The manner you eat, the manner you speak".

He said the firstborn had adopted "very nuanced, unspoken signals" from the family, and had taken on their cultural norms. The family told Adam they hoped to prevent the same situation to happen again with their infant.

The strategy: To engage a British tutor, who needs to speak with Received Pronunciation, to shape the baby from the very start.

Subtle Influence

"A lot of the development at the outset here is somewhat absorbed naturally," stated the CEO.

It's through this subtle influence that the family are hoping the child will adopt the UK customs they want to cultivate.

He explained the tutor needed to be someone who studied at "the right kinds of schools – similar types of schools as the family hope to send their son to".

"The tutor must be the appropriate candidate, they'll be doing things they may not realize they're doing, simply by nature," he commented.

Money No Object

The family explained to the expert the chosen tutor should ideally also have familiarity of or enthusiasm in equestrian activities, winter sports, the arts and instrumental training so as to shape the child in a wide range of hobbies.

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

In the family's perspective, helping their son become a "UK sophisticate" will result in achievement and open doors.

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

But, in spite of all this instruction in "English culture", might the child adopt what is termed cultural bias from the international family he is raised by anyway?

"Yes", said the CEO. "The family realize this may not work, but they've merely embraced the attitude 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 explained.

Impractical

There are some in the tutoring industry who share those concerns.

Another CEO, head and founder of an educational organization, who also offer individual instructors, commented that "the journey of adopting dual cultures, or actually, becoming oneself, is something that must be lived into, not manufactured."

He noted that he had relocated from the Far East to the Britain at the time of seven, and had been educated understanding and embodying both cultures. He continued to study at Cambridge University.

"The idea that a single person can function as a embodiment of UK identity, a person who can somehow transfer the attributes of a UK sophisticate onto a 12-month-old child, strikes me as idealistic and impractical," he wrote.

"From my perspective, engaging a distinctly British tutor from babyhood will not automatically produce the goal they hope for.

"I wasn't provided with that kind of mentor, and nevertheless I have been fortunate enough to live many of the opportunities they hope for their son."

He stated: "The fact is, self-identity should not be imposed from the external environment; it must be selected, and it must be internally driven."

Buying Britishness

Of course, Britishness is something Adam believes can be taught – and commercialized.

"I think the fact that the world views us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating