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"A family residing in North London seeks an remarkable and skilled tutor to guide their most junior child on his first steps to turning into an British gentleman."

Looking at this advertisement, you might readily overlook the wording "initial stages" as just a turn of phrase.

Yet, it may be the crucial element of this distinctive employment listing, as it attempts to hire a mentor for a 12-month-old.

Hundreds of responses have since been sent in since the unidentified family posted their search for the £180k-a-year tutor, who must be "an exceptional individual".

During the past few weeks, the advert has received interest across the press, with numerous asking why?

Innovative Idea

The CEO, head and founder of an education consultancy, which is helping the family in their hunt, stated that despite initial doubt, he found the concept "forward-looking", and "innovative".

When he met the family, he said they recognized the unconventional aspect of their requirement, and how early in age their son is.

But, they explained that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had waited until their firstborn was five, and by that stage "cultural influence had already set in".

What exactly did the family indicate by "cultural leaning"?

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

He stated the older sibling had adopted "really subtle, unspoken signals" from the family, and had assumed their cultural ways. The family informed him they did not want this pattern to repeat itself with their new baby.

The plan: To bring in a UK tutor, who must speak with Received Pronunciation, to guide the baby right from the beginning.

Natural Absorption

"Much of the development at the start here is kind of absorbed naturally," said the CEO.

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

Adam noted the tutor must be someone who went to "the right kinds of schools – similar types of schools as the family plan to send their son to".

"The educator just has to be the right kind of person, they'll be doing things they may not realize they're doing, effortlessly," he said.

Cost Not Relevant

The family informed Adam the successful candidate should ideally also have familiarity of or interest in riding, alpine skiing, creative fields and instrumental training so as to influence the child in a diverse set of interests.

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

In the family's view, guiding their son develop into a "UK sophisticate" will bring about achievement and provide access.

"For all the pros and cons of that, because it's definitely a status symbol," he comments.

But, notwithstanding all this tutelage in "UK identity", would the child pick up so-called cultural leaning from the multicultural family he resides with anyway?

"Yes", said Adam. "The parents know this might not succeed, but they've just taken the view of, 'why not attempt it and let's go as soon as we can', because the price of it is not a concern," he stated.

Idealistic and Unrealistic

A number of in the tutoring industry who express similar reservations.

Another CEO, CEO and founder of a tutoring service, who supplies individual instructors, commented that "the process of becoming bicultural, or in fact, becoming oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not engineered."

He explained that he had relocated from the Far East to the UK at the time of seven, and had been educated experiencing and living both cultures. He progressed to learn at Cambridge University.

"The concept that an individual can act as a embodiment of Britishness, someone who can in some way transfer the attributes of a UK sophisticate onto a 12-month-old child, appears optimistic and unrealistic," he wrote.

"Based on my background, engaging a typically British tutor from infancy will not necessarily create the goal they want.

"I did not have such a tutor, and yet I have been fortunate enough to enjoy several of the experiences they aspire for their son."

He continued: "The reality is, self-identity cannot be imposed from the external environment; it must be embraced, and it must originate internally."

Acquiring Englishness

Naturally, UK identity is something Adam believes can be instructed – and commercialized.

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