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"A household based in north London seeks an extraordinary and skilled educator to assist their youngest child on his initial journey to becoming an English gentleman."

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

However, it may be the most significant part of this unique job advert, as it aims to recruit a mentor for a one-year-old.

Hundreds of submissions have already been received since the anonymous family published their call for the £180,000 per year tutor, who needs to be "an exceptional individual".

During the past few weeks, the post has gained notice in the press, with several asking why?

Forward-Thinking Method

A tutoring expert, head and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is assisting the family in their quest, explained that in spite of early skepticism, he viewed the concept "far sighted", and "advanced".

When he spoke with the family, he noted they recognized the unusual aspect of their request, and how early in age their son is.

However, they stated that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had waited until their older child was five, and by that age "cultural bias had already set in".

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

It's "comprehensive", he responded. "The manner you eat, how you speak".

He said the firstborn had absorbed "very nuanced, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had assumed their cultural habits. The family explained to the consultant they did not want this pattern to repeat itself with their new baby.

The intention: To hire a English tutor, who should speak with standard English accent, to guide the baby from day one.

Natural Absorption

"A lot of the education at the start here is kind of osmotic," explained the CEO.

It's by means of this subtle influence that the family are hoping the child will adopt the British traits they aim to impart.

He explained the tutor needed to be someone who studied at "prestigious academies – the same kinds of schools as the family plan to send their son to".

"The instructor just has to be the appropriate candidate, they'll be carrying out things they don't even know they're doing, just naturally," he commented.

Money No Object

The family told the expert the selected educator should ideally also have knowledge of or interest in equestrian activities, skiing, the arts and music so as to influence the child in a wide range of passions.

Furthermore though, he stated the family wanted the tutor to register the child on a variety of lessons so the child would be "pony-riding and starting an instrument by the time they are about three years old".

In the family's minds, assisting their son develop into a "British gentleman" will result in success and create opportunities.

"For all the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's undoubtedly a social class indicator," he comments.

However, notwithstanding all this guidance in "Britishness", would the child pick up alleged cultural leaning from the multicultural family he is raised by in any case?

"Certainly", replied he. "The family understand this might not succeed, but they've just taken the attitude of, 'why not attempt it and let's go as early as we can', because the cost of it is irrelevant," he explained.

Impractical

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

Peter Cui, head and founder of a tutoring service, who also offer individual instructors, wrote that "the journey of embracing two identities, or indeed, forming one's identity, is something that must be lived into, not manufactured."

Peter explained that he had relocated from the Far East to the UK at the age of 7 years old, and had been brought up understanding and living two backgrounds. He continued to be educated at the University of Cambridge.

"The idea that one individual can serve as a living vessel of UK identity, an individual who can somehow transfer the attributes of a British gentleman upon a one-year-old child, appears naive and unfeasible," he wrote.

"Based on my background, engaging a distinctly UK tutor from babyhood will not automatically create the outcome they hope for.

"I never had such a figure, and yet I have been lucky enough to live many of the situations they desire for their son."

He continued: "The truth is, self-identity cannot be forced from the external environment; it must be chosen, and it must come from within."

Buying Britishness

Certainly, Britishness is something the expert hopes can be taught – and commercialized.

"In my view the situation that the international society regards us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating