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"Parents based in the northern part of London seeks an remarkable and experienced educator to guide their most junior child on his early path to becoming an English gentleman."

Looking at this listing, you might readily miss the wording "initial stages" as mere a turn of phrase.

Yet, it may be the most significant part of this unusual employment listing, as it aims to hire a mentor for a one-year-old.

Many of applications have already been received since the anonymous family published their search for the £180k-a-year tutor, who needs to be "a uniquely qualified person".

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

Progressive Approach

A tutoring expert, CEO and founder of an education consultancy, which is helping the family in their search, said that despite initial scepticism, he found the plan "forward-looking", and "advanced".

When he spoke with the family, he noted they recognized the unusual nature of their requirement, and how immature their son is.

Nevertheless, they explained that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to get a tutor, as they had postponed until their elder sibling was five, and by that age "cultural influence had by then taken hold".

What exactly did the family mean by "cultural bias"?

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

He stated the firstborn had absorbed "really subtle, body language" from the family, and had adopted their cultural ways. The family explained to Adam they did not want history to repeat itself with their infant.

The intention: To hire a English tutor, who should speak with Received Pronunciation, to shape the baby right from the beginning.

Natural Absorption

"Much of the education at the beginning here is rather osmotic," said Adam.

It's by means of this natural absorption that the family are aiming the child will adopt the UK customs they want to instil.

He explained the tutor had to be someone who attended "the right kinds of schools – similar types of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".

"The instructor must be the suitable individual, they'll be performing things they aren't even aware they're doing, just naturally," he said.

Money No Object

The family told Adam the successful candidate should ideally also have understanding of or interest in horse riding, winter sports, creative fields and musical activities so as to influence the child in a broad spectrum of passions.

More than that though, he explained the family desired the tutor to sign up the child on a selection of classes so the child would be "equestrian training and starting an tool by the time they are about three years old".

In the family's perspective, helping their son grow into a "UK sophisticate" will bring about achievement and provide access.

"Taking into account the pros and cons of that, because it's undoubtedly a status symbol," he comments.

But, despite all this guidance in "UK identity", could the child absorb so-called cultural influence from the multicultural family he lives with regardless?

"Yes", answered Adam. "They understand this might not succeed, but they've merely embraced the view of, 'why not attempt it and we'll proceed as quickly as we can', because the price of it is irrelevant," he said.

Idealistic and Unrealistic

Several in the education sector who share those concerns.

Another CEO, chief executive of an educational organization, who also offer private tutors, stated that "the journey of becoming bicultural, or in fact, becoming oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not engineered."

He wrote that he had relocated from China to the UK at the time of 7 years old, and had been educated knowing and living dual heritages. He continued to be educated at the University of Cambridge.

"The notion that one individual can act as a embodiment of UK identity, someone who can somehow impart the characteristics of a British gentleman onto a infant child, seems to me idealistic and unrealistic," he stated.

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

"I never had that kind of mentor, and nevertheless I have been lucky enough to live numerous of the experiences they desire for their son."

He added: "The fact is, personal identity can not be imposed from the outside influences; it must be chosen, and it must come from within."

Purchasing UK Culture

Certainly, Britishness is something Adam thinks can be instructed – and marketed.

"I believe the situation that the international society views us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating