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"A family residing in North London is looking for an exceptional and qualified tutor to assist their smallest child on his first steps to turning into an English gentleman."

When reading this advertisement, you might naturally overlook the wording "initial stages" as just a turn of phrase.

But, it may be the most significant element of this unique position posting, as it aims to recruit a tutor for a 12-month-old.

Hundreds of applications have already been sent in since the anonymous family published their call for the £180,000 per year tutor, who must be "someone very special".

In recent few weeks, the advert has gained attention across the press, with many wondering why?

Progressive Approach

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

When he spoke with the family, he noted they recognized the unusual character of their requirement, and how immature their son is.

Nevertheless, they clarified that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had held off until their elder sibling was five, and by that age "cultural influence had already set in".

But what does the family mean by "cultural predisposition"?

It's "all-encompassing", he responded. "How you eat, the way you speak".

He said the older sibling had absorbed "really subtle, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had adopted their cultural ways. The family told Adam they hoped to prevent this pattern to happen again with their younger child.

The intention: To engage a British tutor, who must speak with standard English accent, to influence the baby from day one.

Osmotic Learning

"A lot of the education at the outset here is kind of osmotic," said the CEO.

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

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

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

Money No Object

The family told him the chosen tutor should ideally also have understanding of or enthusiasm in riding, skiing, creative fields and musical activities so as to inspire the child in a diverse set of passions.

Furthermore though, he stated the family desired the tutor to register the child on a range of courses so the child would be "equestrian training and learning an musical instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".

In the family's perspective, helping their son grow into a "UK sophisticate" will result in accomplishment and open doors.

"Considering the rights and wrongs of that, because it's definitely a class statement," he comments.

But, despite all this tutelage in "English culture", would the child pick up what is termed cultural influence from the globally influenced family he lives with in any case?

"Certainly", replied Adam. "They realize this may not work, but they've simply adopted the view of, 'we should try and we should start as soon as we can', because the price of it is not a concern," he stated.

Idealistic and Unrealistic

There are some in the private teaching field who share those concerns.

An education leader, chief executive of a tutoring service, who provides personal educators, wrote that "the journey of embracing two identities, or actually, forming one's identity, is something that must be experienced personally, not engineered."

He wrote that he had emigrated from China to the UK at the period of seven, and had been educated knowing and embodying both cultures. He went on to study at a prestigious UK institution.

"The idea that an individual can serve as a living vessel of Britishness, a person who can somehow impart the qualities of a British gentleman onto a 12-month-old child, appears idealistic and unrealistic," he stated.

"In my experience, having a distinctly English tutor from early childhood will will not automatically produce the result they want.

"I never had such a tutor, and however I have been lucky enough to experience numerous of the situations they desire for their son."

He added: "The truth is, self-identity can not be imposed from the outside influences; it must be selected, and it must originate internally."

Acquiring Englishness

Certainly, Britishness is something the expert thinks can be educated – and marketed.

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