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"Parents located in north London is looking for an exceptional and experienced instructor to guide their most junior child on his early path to turning into an English gentleman."

When reading this post, you might readily overlook the phrase "initial stages" as just a turn of phrase.

But, it might be the most important part of this distinctive employment listing, as it seeks to hire a teacher for a infant.

Hundreds of applications have since been sent in since the anonymous family advertised their call for the £180k-a-year tutor, who has to be "someone very special".

In recent few weeks, the post has received attention throughout the news, with many asking why?

Progressive Approach

A tutoring expert, chief executive of Tutors International, which is supporting the family in their search, explained that in spite of initial doubt, he viewed the idea "forward-looking", and "progressive".

When he spoke with the family, he mentioned they recognized the unconventional nature of their request, and how young their son is.

But, they explained that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had held off until their older child was five, and by that age "cultural influence had already become established".

What exactly does the family refer to by "cultural leaning"?

It's "everything", he answered. "The way you eat, the manner you speak".

He explained the firstborn had adopted "very nuanced, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had taken on their cultural habits. The family informed him they hoped to prevent history to happen again with their younger child.

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

Osmotic Learning

"A great deal of the education at the outset here is rather absorbed naturally," explained Adam.

It's through this natural absorption that the family are aiming the child will acquire the English characteristics they want to instil.

He said the tutor had to be an individual who studied at "the appropriate educational institutions – similar types of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".

"The educator just has to be the suitable individual, they'll be carrying out things they don't even know they're doing, effortlessly," he added.

Cost Not Relevant

The family informed him the selected educator should ideally also have knowledge of or enthusiasm in equestrian activities, winter sports, creative fields and instrumental training so as to influence the child in a broad spectrum of hobbies.

More than that though, he said the family hoped the tutor to sign up the child on a selection of classes so the child would be "horseback riding and learning an musical instrument by the time they are around three years old".

In the family's view, guiding their son grow into a "British gentleman" will lead to success and open doors.

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

However, in spite of all this instruction in "Britishness", could the child adopt so-called cultural leaning from the multicultural family he resides with regardless?

"Yes", answered Adam. "They know this could fail, but they've simply adopted the attitude of, 'we should try and let's go as quickly as we can', because the price of it is not relevant," he stated.

Impractical

Several in the education sector who share these reservations.

Another CEO, chief executive of an educational organization, who also offer private tutors, stated that "the journey of becoming bicultural, or actually, forming one's identity, is something that must be lived into, not manufactured."

The expert explained that he had relocated from Asia to the UK at the age of childhood, and had been brought up understanding and embodying both cultures. He progressed to study at the University of Cambridge.

"The idea that one individual can function as a embodiment of English culture, someone who can somehow transplant the qualities of a British gentleman upon a infant child, appears optimistic and impractical," he commented.

"From my perspective, engaging a quintessentially British tutor from early childhood will will not instantly produce the result they want.

"I did not have such a tutor, and however I have been lucky enough to live many of the situations they desire for their son."

He stated: "The truth is, cultural identity should not be dictated from the external environment; it must be selected, and it must be internally driven."

Buying Britishness

Of course, Britishness is something the CEO believes can be taught – and commercialized.

"In my view the reality that the world views us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating