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"Parents residing in north London seeks an exceptional and experienced tutor to support their most junior child on his early path to turning into an English gentleman."

When reading this post, you might readily skip the wording "initial stages" as simple an expression.

Yet, it may be the most important part of this unusual position posting, as it seeks to find a mentor for a infant.

Numerous of applications have now been submitted since the unidentified family posted their request for the £180,000 per year tutor, who needs to be "a uniquely qualified person".

In recent few weeks, the advert has attracted attention in the press, with several questioning why?

Forward-Thinking Method

A tutoring expert, head and founder of an education consultancy, which is assisting the family in their hunt, explained that in spite of early scepticism, he found the plan "visionary", and "innovative".

When he consulted the family, he mentioned they appreciated the atypical nature of their request, and how immature their son is.

However, they explained that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had waited until their elder sibling was five, and by that stage "cultural bias had already become established".

But what does the family mean by "cultural predisposition"?

It's "all-encompassing", he answered. "The way you eat, the manner you speak".

He explained the older sibling had absorbed "really subtle, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had adopted their cultural ways. The family told Adam they did not want history to recur with their new baby.

The intention: To bring in a UK tutor, who should speak with RP, to influence the baby from the very start.

Subtle Influence

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

It's via this natural absorption that the family are expecting the child will pick up the UK customs they wish to impart.

The consultant said the tutor must be someone who attended "prestigious academies – the same kinds of schools as the family hope to send their son to".

"The tutor simply needs to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be carrying out things they aren't even aware they're doing, simply by nature," he added.

Money No Object

The family informed the expert the successful candidate should preferably also have knowledge of or enthusiasm in horse riding, skiing, the arts and instrumental training so as to shape the child in a wide range of hobbies.

Furthermore though, he explained the family wanted the tutor to enrol the child on a range of lessons so the child would be "horseback riding and learning an musical instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".

In the family's minds, assisting their son become a "British gentleman" will bring about success and create opportunities.

"Taking into account the pros and cons of that, because it's definitely a social class indicator," he adds.

However, despite all this instruction in "Britishness", would the child absorb so-called cultural leaning from the multicultural family he is raised by anyway?

"Certainly", answered he. "They know this might not succeed, but they've simply adopted the perspective of, 'we should try and we should start as soon as we can', because the cost of it is irrelevant," he explained.

Impractical

A number of in the private teaching field who share these reservations.

Another CEO, chief executive of Blue Education, who provides private tutors, wrote that "the process of adopting dual cultures, or in fact, forming one's identity, is something that must be experienced personally, not designed."

The expert wrote that he had moved from Asia to the UK at the time of childhood, and had been brought up experiencing and embodying both cultures. He continued to be educated at a prestigious UK institution.

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

"Based on my background, having a distinctly UK tutor from infancy will not automatically create the result they hope for.

"I wasn't provided with such a tutor, and yet I have been privileged enough to enjoy numerous of the experiences they hope for their son."

He stated: "The truth is, self-identity should not be imposed from the external environment; it must be embraced, and it must come from within."

Acquiring Englishness

Naturally, Britishness is something the CEO hopes can be instructed – and sold.

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