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"A family based in the northern part of London is looking for an exceptional and experienced educator to guide their smallest child on his early path to turning into an British gentleman."

Looking at this post, you might readily overlook the wording "first-steps" as simple an expression.

However, it could be the most significant element of this unusual employment listing, as it seeks to find a teacher for a infant.

Numerous of submissions have now been sent in since the unidentified family published their request for the £180,000 per year tutor, who needs to be "someone very special".

During the past few weeks, the post has received attention across the media, with many wondering why?

Progressive Approach

The CEO, chief executive of a global tutoring firm, which is helping the family in their search, explained that notwithstanding initial scepticism, he viewed the concept "forward-looking", and "innovative".

When he spoke with the family, he said they understood the unusual nature of their requirement, and how young their son is.

Nevertheless, they explained that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to get a tutor, as they had postponed until their elder sibling was five, and by that stage "cultural bias had by then taken hold".

But what did the family indicate by "cultural bias"?

It's "everything", Adam responded. "How you eat, how you speak".

He said the older sibling had absorbed "very nuanced, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had taken on their cultural norms. The family told him they wished to avoid the same situation to recur with their younger child.

The strategy: To engage a English tutor, who needs to speak with RP, to shape the baby from day one.

Osmotic Learning

"A lot of the learning at the outset here is somewhat osmotic," explained Adam.

It's by means of this subtle influence that the family are hoping the child will adopt the UK customs they want to impart.

The consultant said the tutor had to be an individual who attended "the appropriate educational institutions – the same kinds of schools as the family hope to send their son to".

"The tutor simply needs to be the right kind of person, they'll be performing things they may not realize they're doing, simply by nature," he commented.

Expense Not a Factor

The family told Adam the successful candidate should ideally also have understanding of or interest in horse riding, alpine skiing, artistic pursuits and music so as to inspire the child in a wide range of hobbies.

More than that though, he said the family wanted the tutor to register the child on a selection of courses so the child would be "equestrian training and picking up an instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".

In the family's perspective, assisting their son become a "English gentleman" will lead to success and open doors.

"Taking into account the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's undoubtedly a social class indicator," he adds.

However, notwithstanding all this instruction in "Britishness", might the child absorb what is termed cultural bias from the multicultural family he resides with in any case?

"Yes", answered the CEO. "The parents understand this may not work, but they've simply adopted the view of, 'let's give it a go and let's go as early as we can', because the expense of it is not a concern," he said.

Idealistic and Unrealistic

A number of in the education sector who have these doubts.

Peter Cui, head and founder of a tutoring service, who also offer individual instructors, wrote that "the process of becoming bicultural, or indeed, forming one's identity, is something that must be experienced personally, not manufactured."

The expert wrote that he had relocated from Asia to the UK at the period of seven, and had been raised understanding and living two backgrounds. He went on to study at the University of Cambridge.

"The concept that an individual can function as a embodiment of UK identity, someone who can somehow impart the qualities of a English gentleman upon a infant child, seems to me naive and unrealistic," he stated.

"In my experience, having a typically British tutor from babyhood will will not necessarily achieve the result they desire.

"I never had such a tutor, and nevertheless I have been fortunate enough to live several of the situations they hope for their son."

He added: "The fact is, self-identity should not be imposed from the external environment; it must be embraced, and it must be internally driven."

Buying Britishness

Naturally, Britishness is something Adam hopes can be instructed – and sold.

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