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"A family residing in north London is looking for an extraordinary and experienced educator to assist their youngest child on his first steps to growing into an English gentleman."

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

But, it might be the most important element of this unusual job advert, as it attempts to hire a mentor for a 12-month-old.

Many of submissions have since been sent in since the unnamed family advertised their request for the highly paid tutor, who needs to be "someone very special".

Over the last few weeks, the listing has attracted notice throughout the news, with several questioning why?

Progressive Approach

A tutoring expert, head and founder of Tutors International, which is helping the family in their quest, explained that notwithstanding first skepticism, he viewed the idea "far sighted", and "advanced".

When he spoke with the family, he mentioned they recognized the atypical character of their requirement, and how early in age their son is.

But, they clarified that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had postponed until their firstborn was five, and by that age "cultural influence had by then taken hold".

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

It's "comprehensive", Adam answered. "The manner you eat, how you speak".

He stated the older sibling had adopted "extremely delicate, unspoken signals" from the family, and had adopted their cultural norms. The family told Adam they wished to avoid the same situation to recur with their younger child.

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

Osmotic Learning

"A great deal of the learning at the start here is kind of acquired indirectly," explained the expert.

It's through this subtle influence that the family are hoping the child will pick up the English characteristics they aim to impart.

The consultant noted the tutor had to be somebody who went to "the right kinds of schools – the same kinds of schools as the family plan to send their son to".

"The tutor must be the suitable individual, they'll be doing things they don't even know they're doing, simply by nature," he commented.

Money No Object

The family informed him the selected educator should preferably also have understanding of or passion in equestrian activities, winter sports, artistic pursuits and musical activities so as to influence the child in a wide range of hobbies.

More than that though, he stated the family wanted the tutor to sign up the child on a range of lessons so the child would be "pony-riding and learning an instrument by the time they are about three years old".

In the family's minds, guiding their son develop into a "British gentleman" will lead to accomplishment and provide access.

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

But, despite all this guidance in "English culture", would the child pick up so-called cultural bias from the multicultural family he resides with in any case?

"Yes", replied he. "They understand this might not succeed, but they've merely embraced the attitude of, 'we should try and we'll proceed as quickly as we can', because the cost of it is irrelevant," he explained.

Idealistic and Unrealistic

A number of in the education sector who have similar reservations.

An education leader, head and founder of a tutoring service, who supplies private tutors, wrote that "the journey of embracing two identities, or indeed, forming one's identity, is something that must be lived into, not designed."

The expert noted that he had emigrated from China to the UK at the time of childhood, and had been educated experiencing and embodying two backgrounds. He progressed to learn at Cambridge University.

"The idea that an individual can function as a embodiment of English culture, a person who can possibly impart the characteristics of a UK sophisticate onto a one-year-old child, strikes me as naive and impractical," he wrote.

"From my perspective, engaging a typically British tutor from infancy will does not automatically create the outcome they hope for.

"I never had such a tutor, and yet I have been lucky enough to enjoy many of the situations they hope for their son."

He continued: "The fact is, cultural identity should not be imposed from the outside influences; it must be selected, and it must be internally driven."

Purchasing UK Culture

Certainly, English culture is something Adam thinks can be educated – and commercialized.

"I think the situation that the global community views us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating