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"A household based in the northern part of London is looking for an exceptional and qualified tutor to guide their smallest child on his initial journey to growing into an British gentleman."

When reading this post, you might readily miss the phrase "beginning" as just a turn of phrase.

But, it could be the most important aspect of this unique job advert, as it attempts to find a tutor for a one-year-old.

Numerous of submissions have already been submitted since the unidentified family posted their call for the £180k-a-year tutor, who needs to be "a uniquely qualified person".

Over the last few weeks, the post has attracted notice in the news, with many asking why?

Progressive Approach

Adam Caller, head and founder of an education consultancy, which is helping the family in their hunt, said that notwithstanding early doubt, he viewed the idea "forward-looking", and "progressive".

When he consulted the family, he said they understood the unconventional aspect of their demand, and how early in age their son is.

But, they explained that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to get a tutor, as they had waited until their older child was five, and by that age "cultural bias had already taken hold".

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

It's "all-encompassing", Adam responded. "The manner you eat, the way you speak".

He said the firstborn had picked up "really subtle, unspoken signals" from the family, and had taken on their cultural ways. The family explained to the consultant they wished to avoid this pattern to happen again with their infant.

The strategy: To bring in a English tutor, who should speak with standard English accent, to shape the baby from the very start.

Osmotic Learning

"Much of the learning at the outset here is somewhat osmotic," explained the CEO.

It's via this osmosis that the family are aiming the child will acquire the English characteristics they aim to cultivate.

The consultant said the tutor needed to be someone who studied at "the right kinds of schools – the same kinds of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".

"The instructor just has to be the right kind of person, they'll be performing things they may not realize they're doing, simply by nature," he said.

Cost Not Relevant

The family told him the chosen tutor should ideally also have familiarity of or interest in equestrian activities, skiing, the arts and instrumental training so as to shape the child in a broad spectrum of passions.

Additionally though, he explained the family hoped the tutor to sign up the child on a selection of lessons so the child would be "pony-riding and learning an tool by the time they are around three years old".

In the family's view, guiding their son grow into a "English gentleman" will lead to success and provide access.

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

However, despite all this tutelage in "UK identity", would the child adopt so-called cultural bias from the multicultural family he lives with anyway?

"Yes", replied the CEO. "They realize this could fail, but they've simply adopted the perspective of, 'we should try and we'll proceed as early as we can', because the expense of it is not relevant," he stated.

Idealistic and Unrealistic

There are some in the education sector who have those reservations.

Another CEO, chief executive of an educational organization, who provides personal educators, commented that "the process of adopting dual cultures, or actually, discovering oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not engineered."

The expert wrote that he had moved from Asia to the UK at the age of childhood, and had been brought up experiencing and embodying both cultures. He continued to be educated at Cambridge University.

"The notion that a single person can act as a living vessel of UK identity, an individual who can in some way transfer the qualities of a British gentleman upon a one-year-old child, appears naive and unrealistic," he wrote.

"Based on my background, engaging a distinctly English tutor from infancy will not automatically produce the outcome they desire.

"I never had such a tutor, and however I have been fortunate enough to enjoy several of the situations they desire for their son."

He continued: "The reality is, personal identity cannot be imposed from the outside influences; it must be selected, and it must be internally driven."

Buying Britishness

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

"I think the reality that the world holds us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating