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"Parents based in the northern part of London wants to find an remarkable and experienced instructor to assist their most junior child on his first steps to growing into an British gentleman."

Looking at this advertisement, you might easily skip the term "first-steps" as simple an expression.

However, it could be the crucial aspect of this distinctive position posting, as it seeks to find a mentor for a infant.

Hundreds of responses have since been submitted since the unnamed family published their search for the £180k-a-year tutor, who must be "someone very special".

During the past few weeks, the listing has received notice across the media, with numerous asking why?

Forward-Thinking Method

A tutoring expert, CEO and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is supporting the family in their hunt, stated that notwithstanding first skepticism, he found the plan "visionary", and "advanced".

When he consulted the family, he said they recognized the unconventional aspect of their demand, and how young their son is.

However, they explained that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had held off until their older child was five, and by that stage "cultural influence had by then set in".

What precisely did the family indicate by "cultural bias"?

It's "everything", he replied. "How you eat, how you speak".

He explained the elder child had adopted "very nuanced, unspoken signals" from the family, and had taken on their cultural ways. The family informed him they did not want history to repeat itself with their younger child.

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

Subtle Influence

"A lot of the education at the outset here is somewhat absorbed naturally," said the CEO.

It's by means of this natural absorption that the family are expecting the child will acquire the English characteristics they want to impart.

The consultant explained the tutor must be somebody who attended "prestigious academies – similar types of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".

"The educator just has to be the right kind of person, they'll be carrying out things they aren't even aware they're doing, simply by nature," he said.

Expense Not a Factor

The family explained to the expert the selected educator should ideally also have knowledge of or interest in equestrian activities, winter sports, the arts and instrumental training so as to influence the child in a diverse set of hobbies.

Furthermore though, he stated the family wanted the tutor to sign up the child on a selection of lessons so the child would be "horseback riding and picking up an tool by the time they are approximately three years old".

In the family's minds, assisting their son become a "UK sophisticate" will result in success and provide access.

"Taking into account the rights and wrongs of that, because it's definitely a status symbol," he adds.

Yet, in spite of all this guidance in "English culture", would the child absorb so-called cultural influence from the multicultural family he lives with in any case?

"Yes", answered he. "The family understand this may not work, but they've merely embraced the view of, 'let's give it a go and we should start as soon as we can', because the price of it is not relevant," he explained.

Idealistic and Unrealistic

There are some in the tutoring industry who share those reservations.

Another CEO, head and founder of a tutoring service, who supplies personal educators, commented that "the journey of becoming bicultural, or actually, forming one's identity, is something that must be grown into, not engineered."

Peter noted that he had relocated from the Far East to the UK at the time of 7 years old, and had been brought up understanding and living both cultures. He continued to learn at the University of Cambridge.

"The concept that a single person can serve as a representation of English culture, a person who can somehow impart the attributes of a British gentleman to a 12-month-old child, appears idealistic and unrealistic," he commented.

"Based on my background, employing a distinctly British tutor from early childhood will does not necessarily create the outcome they desire.

"I never had that kind of mentor, and nevertheless I have been fortunate enough to live many of the situations 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."

Buying Britishness

Naturally, English culture is something the expert hopes can be instructed – and commercialized.

"I think the situation that the world regards us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating