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"Parents residing in North London is looking for an remarkable and qualified instructor to guide their most junior child on his initial journey to turning into an English gentleman."

Looking at this post, you might naturally skip the phrase "first-steps" as mere figurative language.

Yet, it may be the most significant element of this unusual employment listing, as it seeks to find a tutor for a infant.

Many of applications have since been sent in since the unnamed family posted their call for the highly paid tutor, who needs to be "a uniquely qualified person".

During the past few weeks, the post has attracted attention throughout the news, with several asking why?

Progressive Approach

The CEO, chief executive of Tutors International, which is assisting the family in their quest, said that despite first scepticism, he considered the idea "far sighted", and "innovative".

When he consulted the family, he said they understood the unusual character of their demand, and how young their son is.

Nevertheless, they explained that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had postponed until their elder sibling was five, and by that point "cultural influence had already become established".

But what does the family indicate by "cultural leaning"?

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

He explained the older sibling had absorbed "extremely delicate, body language" from the family, and had taken on their cultural habits. The family told the consultant they did not want the same situation to repeat itself with their infant.

The intention: To hire a English tutor, who needs to speak with RP, to guide the baby right from the beginning.

Natural Absorption

"A great deal of the learning at the start here is kind of absorbed naturally," said Adam.

It's through this subtle influence that the family are expecting the child will adopt the English characteristics they want to instil.

Adam explained the tutor had to be somebody who studied at "the right kinds of schools – similar types of schools as the family hope to send their son to".

"The tutor simply needs to be the suitable individual, they'll be performing things they may not realize they're doing, simply by nature," he said.

Money No Object

The family explained to him the chosen tutor should ideally also have understanding of or passion in horse riding, skiing, artistic pursuits and instrumental training so as to influence the child in a wide range of passions.

More than that though, he said the family hoped the tutor to enrol the child on a selection of lessons so the child would be "pony-riding and learning an musical instrument by the time they are around three years old".

In the family's minds, helping their son grow into a "English gentleman" will bring about accomplishment and open doors.

"Considering the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's undoubtedly a class statement," he comments.

Yet, in spite of all this guidance in "English culture", could the child pick up so-called cultural bias from the multicultural family he is raised by in any case?

"Yes", replied he. "They realize this could fail, but they've merely embraced the attitude of, 'we should try and we'll proceed as soon as we can', because the price of it is not a concern," he stated.

Idealistic and Unrealistic

There are some in the tutoring industry who express these reservations.

Peter Cui, head and founder of a tutoring service, who provides private tutors, stated that "the journey of embracing two identities, or actually, forming one's identity, is something that must be grown into, not engineered."

Peter wrote that he had emigrated from Asia to the Britain at the time of 7 years old, and had been brought up understanding and living two backgrounds. He went on to learn at a prestigious UK institution.

"The concept that a single person can act as a living vessel of English culture, someone who can somehow transplant the qualities of a British gentleman upon a 12-month-old child, appears idealistic and impractical," he stated.

"Based on my background, engaging a quintessentially English tutor from babyhood will will not automatically create the result they want.

"I never had that kind of mentor, and nevertheless I have been fortunate enough to live numerous of the situations they desire for their son."

He stated: "The reality is, self-identity cannot be imposed from the outside influences; it must be embraced, and it must come from within."

Acquiring Englishness

Certainly, UK identity is something Adam thinks can be instructed – and marketed.

"In my view the reality that the global community regards us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating