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"A household residing in the northern part of London seeks an exceptional and experienced instructor to support their most junior child on his initial journey to becoming an British gentleman."

When reading this listing, you might easily miss the wording "first-steps" as just a turn of phrase.

Yet, it could be the most significant element of this distinctive job advert, as it seeks to hire a tutor for a infant.

Hundreds of submissions have now been sent in since the anonymous family published their call for the highly paid tutor, who must be "an exceptional individual".

In recent few weeks, the listing has gained interest across the media, with many questioning why?

Progressive Approach

A tutoring expert, CEO and founder of Tutors International, which is helping the family in their quest, stated that despite initial scepticism, he viewed the plan "forward-looking", and "advanced".

When he consulted the family, he noted they understood the unusual aspect of their request, and how young their son is.

But, they stated that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had waited until their firstborn was five, and by that point "cultural bias had already set in".

But what does the family refer to by "cultural bias"?

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

He said the elder child had picked up "very nuanced, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had assumed their cultural norms. The family told Adam they did not want this pattern to repeat itself with their new baby.

The intention: To bring in a British tutor, who must speak with standard English accent, to guide the baby right from the beginning.

Osmotic Learning

"Much of the development at the outset here is kind of acquired indirectly," stated the expert.

It's by means of this natural absorption that the family are expecting the child will acquire the British traits they wish to impart.

He explained the tutor needed to be someone who went to "prestigious academies – comparable categories of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".

"The tutor must be the appropriate candidate, they'll be performing things they don't even know they're doing, simply by nature," he added.

Money No Object

The family told him the selected educator should preferably also have understanding of or interest in riding, winter sports, the arts and musical activities so as to inspire the child in a diverse set of passions.

Additionally though, he said the family desired the tutor to enrol the child on a variety of lessons so the child would be "pony-riding and starting an instrument by the time they are around three years old".

In the family's minds, helping their son develop into a "English gentleman" will result in achievement and open doors.

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

However, in spite of all this tutelage in "English culture", could the child adopt alleged cultural leaning from the globally influenced family he lives with regardless?

"Yes", replied Adam. "The family understand this could fail, but they've simply adopted the attitude of, 'we should try and we should start as quickly as we can', because the price of it is not relevant," he said.

Impractical

There are some in the private teaching field who have similar reservations.

An education leader, chief executive of an educational organization, who provides private tutors, commented that "the journey of embracing two identities, or in fact, forming one's identity, is something that must be experienced personally, not designed."

He noted that he had moved from China to the UK at the time of seven, and had been raised experiencing and embodying both cultures. He progressed to learn at the University of Cambridge.

"The notion that an individual can function as a embodiment of English culture, an individual who can possibly transplant the qualities of a British gentleman onto a infant child, strikes me as naive and impractical," he wrote.

"From my perspective, employing a typically UK tutor from infancy will not instantly produce the result they desire.

"I wasn't provided with such a figure, and nevertheless I have been lucky enough to enjoy many of the opportunities they hope for their son."

He added: "The truth is, cultural identity can not be dictated from the outside; it must be embraced, and it must originate internally."

Buying Britishness

Of course, UK identity is something Adam hopes can be educated – and commercialized.

"I think the situation that the international society holds us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating