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"Parents based in North London wants to find an extraordinary and experienced tutor to support their smallest child on his early path to turning into an English gentleman."

Upon seeing this post, you might easily miss the wording "initial stages" as mere figurative language.

Yet, it might be the most important part of this distinctive job advert, as it attempts to find a tutor for a 12-month-old.

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

Over the last few weeks, the listing has attracted attention across the news, with many questioning why?

Forward-Thinking Method

Adam Caller, CEO and founder of an education consultancy, which is supporting the family in their quest, said that in spite of initial skepticism, he considered the idea "forward-looking", and "innovative".

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

However, they stated that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to get a tutor, as they had held off until their older child was five, and by that age "cultural bias had by then taken hold".

What exactly did the family mean by "cultural bias"?

It's "everything", Adam answered. "The way you eat, how you speak".

He explained the firstborn had absorbed "very nuanced, unspoken signals" from the family, and had taken on their cultural habits. The family informed Adam they did not want this pattern to repeat itself with their infant.

The intention: To engage a UK tutor, who should speak with Received Pronunciation, to influence the baby from day one.

Osmotic Learning

"A great deal of the development at the start here is somewhat absorbed naturally," stated Adam.

It's through this subtle influence that the family are aiming the child will acquire the English characteristics they aim to cultivate.

The consultant said the tutor had to be somebody who studied at "prestigious academies – similar types of schools as the family hope to send their son to".

"The instructor just has to be the suitable individual, they'll be performing things they aren't even aware they're doing, effortlessly," he said.

Cost Not Relevant

The family explained to him the chosen tutor should ideally also have knowledge of or interest in equestrian activities, alpine skiing, creative fields and musical activities so as to influence the child in a broad spectrum of passions.

More than that though, he explained the family hoped the tutor to sign up the child on a selection of lessons so the child would be "pony-riding and picking up an tool by the time they are approximately three years old".

In the family's view, assisting their son become a "English gentleman" will result in success and create opportunities.

"Considering the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's certainly a social class indicator," he notes.

But, notwithstanding all this guidance in "Britishness", could the child adopt what is termed cultural influence from the international family he resides with anyway?

"Certainly", replied he. "The family realize this may not work, but they've just taken the perspective of, 'we should try and let's go as early as we can', because the cost of it is irrelevant," he explained.

Overly Optimistic

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

Peter Cui, chief executive of Blue Education, who supplies personal educators, stated that "the development of adopting dual cultures, or in fact, discovering oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not designed."

He explained that he had emigrated from the Far East to the UK at the period of childhood, and had been raised experiencing and embodying both cultures. He went on to be educated at the University of Cambridge.

"The concept that one individual can serve as a living vessel of UK identity, an individual who can somehow transfer the attributes of a British gentleman onto a 12-month-old child, seems to me optimistic and unfeasible," he wrote.

"Based on my background, engaging a quintessentially British tutor from early childhood will does not necessarily create the goal they desire.

"I did not have such a tutor, and yet I have been fortunate enough to enjoy numerous of the situations they aspire for their son."

He stated: "The fact is, self-identity should not be imposed from the outside influences; it must be selected, and it must be internally driven."

Purchasing UK Culture

Naturally, UK identity is something Adam thinks can be taught – and sold.

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