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"A household located in North London wants to find an extraordinary and experienced instructor to guide their youngest child on his initial journey to turning into an British gentleman."

When reading this post, you might readily miss the phrase "first-steps" as just figurative language.

Yet, it may be the most important element of this distinctive position posting, as it seeks to hire a teacher for a 12-month-old.

Many of submissions have already been received since the unnamed family published their search for the highly paid tutor, who has to be "an exceptional individual".

In recent few weeks, the post has attracted notice in the press, with several asking why?

Innovative Idea

Adam Caller, chief executive of an education consultancy, which is supporting the family in their quest, stated that notwithstanding first skepticism, he viewed the idea "visionary", and "advanced".

When he met the family, he said they understood the unconventional nature of their requirement, and how immature their son is.

Nevertheless, they clarified that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to get a tutor, as they had held off until their firstborn was five, and by that point "cultural bias had by then set in".

But what did the family refer to by "cultural leaning"?

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

He explained the elder child had absorbed "really subtle, body language" from the family, and had assumed their cultural norms. The family told Adam they did not want this pattern to happen again with their new baby.

The strategy: To engage a British tutor, who should speak with standard English accent, to guide the baby from the very start.

Subtle Influence

"A great deal of the development at the start here is kind of osmotic," explained the expert.

It's via this osmosis that the family are hoping the child will pick up the British traits they wish to instil.

Adam noted the tutor must be an individual who went to "prestigious academies – similar types of schools as the family plan to send their son to".

"The instructor just has to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be doing things they don't even know they're doing, simply by nature," he added.

Cost Not Relevant

The family explained to the expert the selected educator should preferably also have knowledge of or interest in riding, alpine skiing, creative fields and musical activities so as to shape the child in a wide range of hobbies.

More than that though, he said the family desired the tutor to sign up the child on a range of lessons so the child would be "pony-riding and starting 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 achievement and open doors.

"Taking into account the pros and cons of that, because it's certainly a class statement," he adds.

But, despite all this tutelage in "UK identity", might the child pick up what is termed cultural bias from the multicultural family he is raised by regardless?

"Certainly", answered the CEO. "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 expense of it is not a concern," he stated.

Impractical

Several in the education sector who have those concerns.

An education leader, CEO and founder of Blue Education, who provides individual instructors, wrote that "the process of becoming bicultural, or indeed, forming one's identity, is something that must be grown into, not designed."

He wrote that he had relocated from the Far East to the UK at the age of seven, and had been educated understanding and practicing dual heritages. He went on to learn at the University of Cambridge.

"The notion that a single person can function as a living vessel of UK identity, someone who can somehow transfer the characteristics of a English gentleman to a one-year-old child, strikes me as naive and unfeasible," he wrote.

"From my perspective, engaging a typically British tutor from infancy will does not necessarily create the outcome they hope for.

"I wasn't provided with such a figure, and nevertheless I have been fortunate enough to experience many of the opportunities they aspire for their son."

He stated: "The reality is, cultural identity can not be dictated from the outside influences; it must be embraced, and it must originate internally."

Acquiring Englishness

Certainly, English culture is something Adam believes can be instructed – and marketed.

"In my view the situation that the world holds us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating