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"A household located in north London is looking for an exceptional and skilled instructor to assist their youngest child on his first steps to becoming an English gentleman."

Upon seeing this post, you might easily skip the wording "initial stages" as simple a turn of phrase.

However, it could be the most significant aspect of this unusual position posting, as it seeks to recruit a teacher for a infant.

Numerous of responses have since been submitted since the unidentified family advertised their call for the £180k-a-year tutor, who must be "an exceptional individual".

Over the last few weeks, the post has received interest across the press, with several wondering why?

Forward-Thinking Method

The CEO, chief executive of an education consultancy, which is helping the family in their hunt, said that despite early doubt, he considered the plan "forward-looking", and "advanced".

When he consulted the family, he mentioned they recognized the unconventional nature of their requirement, and how young their son is.

Nevertheless, they stated that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to get a tutor, as they had waited until their elder sibling was five, and by that age "cultural bias had already become established".

But what did the family refer to by "cultural leaning"?

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

He said the elder child had absorbed "really subtle, unspoken signals" from the family, and had taken on their cultural norms. The family informed Adam they hoped to prevent the same situation to recur with their younger child.

The plan: To engage a British tutor, who needs to speak with Received Pronunciation, to shape the baby right from the beginning.

Natural Absorption

"Much of the development at the beginning here is kind of osmotic," said Adam.

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

The consultant noted the tutor must be an individual who went to "the right kinds of schools – the same kinds of schools as the family hope to send their son to".

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

Money No Object

The family informed Adam the selected educator should preferably also have familiarity of or passion in equestrian activities, winter sports, creative fields and music so as to shape the child in a wide range of hobbies.

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

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

"Taking into account the rights and wrongs of that, because it's certainly a social class indicator," he notes.

However, despite all this guidance in "English culture", might the child absorb so-called cultural influence from the multicultural family he lives with anyway?

"Certainly", replied Adam. "The family understand this may not work, but they've simply adopted the view of, 'let's give it a go and we should start as soon as we can', because the cost of it is not a concern," he said.

Idealistic and Unrealistic

There are some in the private teaching field who share these concerns.

An education leader, head and founder of an educational organization, who also offer private tutors, wrote that "the development of adopting dual cultures, or actually, forming one's identity, is something that must be lived into, not engineered."

The expert wrote that he had moved from Asia to the United Kingdom at the time of 7 years old, and had been brought up experiencing and living two backgrounds. He continued to learn at Cambridge University.

"The idea that a single person can function as a living vessel of English culture, someone who can possibly impart the characteristics of a British gentleman onto a one-year-old child, strikes me as optimistic and impractical," he wrote.

"Based on my background, engaging a distinctly British tutor from infancy will not necessarily produce the outcome they want.

"I did not have such a figure, and nevertheless I have been privileged enough to experience several of the experiences they aspire for their son."

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

Buying Britishness

Naturally, Britishness is something the expert thinks can be educated – and commercialized.

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