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"Parents based in North London is looking for an exceptional and skilled instructor to support their smallest child on his initial journey to becoming an British gentleman."

Upon seeing this listing, you might easily skip the term "first-steps" as mere figurative language.

Yet, it could be the crucial part of this unusual job advert, as it attempts to find a mentor for a 12-month-old.

Hundreds of applications have now been received since the unnamed family advertised their request for the £180,000 per year tutor, who has to be "an exceptional individual".

During the past few weeks, the listing has attracted notice in the media, with numerous questioning why?

Forward-Thinking Method

The CEO, head and founder of an education consultancy, which is helping the family in their quest, stated that in spite of initial skepticism, he considered the plan "forward-looking", and "progressive".

When he consulted the family, he mentioned they appreciated the unconventional character of their requirement, and how young their son is.

However, they stated that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had held off until their firstborn was five, and by that age "cultural bias had by then set in".

What exactly does the family mean by "cultural predisposition"?

It's "everything", the expert responded. "The manner you eat, the way you speak".

He stated the elder child had picked up "very nuanced, body language" from the family, and had assumed their cultural ways. The family informed Adam they wished to avoid the same situation to happen again with their younger child.

The plan: To hire a British tutor, who must speak with standard English accent, to shape the baby from the very start.

Osmotic Learning

"Much of the development at the start here is rather osmotic," explained Adam.

It's through this osmosis that the family are expecting the child will adopt the British traits they want to cultivate.

Adam explained the tutor needed to be someone who went to "prestigious academies – comparable categories of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".

"The tutor just has to be the right kind of person, they'll be performing things they don't even know they're doing, effortlessly," he added.

Expense Not a Factor

The family told Adam the chosen tutor should ideally also have familiarity of or interest in horse riding, alpine skiing, the arts and musical activities so as to influence the child in a diverse set of interests.

Furthermore though, he explained the family desired the tutor to enrol the child on a selection of courses so the child would be "equestrian training and starting an tool by the time they are around three years old".

In the family's perspective, guiding their son develop into a "English gentleman" will result in achievement and open doors.

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

But, in spite of all this instruction in "UK identity", would the child adopt what is termed cultural influence from the globally influenced family he resides with anyway?

"Yes", answered Adam. "They understand this could fail, but they've merely embraced the view of, 'we should try and let's go as soon as we can', because the price of it is not relevant," he stated.

Idealistic and Unrealistic

There are some in the tutoring industry who express those doubts.

An education leader, head and founder of Blue Education, who provides individual instructors, wrote that "the development of becoming bicultural, or in fact, discovering oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not engineered."

He explained that he had relocated from China to the Britain at the time of childhood, and had been brought up knowing and practicing both cultures. He continued to be educated at the University of Cambridge.

"The notion that a single person can serve as a representation of Britishness, someone who can in some way transplant the attributes of a British gentleman onto a 12-month-old child, seems to me optimistic and impractical," he stated.

"From my perspective, engaging a typically British tutor from babyhood will will not automatically produce the result they desire.

"I never had such a tutor, and yet I have been lucky enough to experience several of the experiences they desire for their son."

He added: "The truth is, self-identity should not be forced from the outside; it must be embraced, and it must be internally driven."

Buying Britishness

Naturally, Britishness is something the CEO thinks can be instructed – and commercialized.

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