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"A household based in North London seeks an remarkable and experienced tutor to guide their smallest child on his initial journey to growing into an English gentleman."

Looking at this post, you might easily overlook the term "first-steps" as mere a turn of phrase.

But, it could be the most important aspect of this unique position posting, as it seeks to find a mentor for a 12-month-old.

Many of submissions have already been received since the anonymous family posted their search for the highly paid tutor, who needs to be "a uniquely qualified person".

In recent few weeks, the post has attracted interest throughout the media, with many wondering why?

Progressive Approach

A tutoring expert, CEO and founder of an education consultancy, which is assisting the family in their search, stated that despite first scepticism, he considered the plan "far sighted", and "progressive".

When he spoke with the family, he said they appreciated the unconventional character of their request, and how immature their son is.

Nevertheless, they clarified that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had held off until their firstborn was five, and by that stage "cultural conditioning had already become established".

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

It's "everything", the expert answered. "The manner you eat, how you speak".

He explained the older sibling had picked up "really subtle, unspoken signals" from the family, and had taken on their cultural habits. The family informed the consultant they wished to avoid the same situation to recur with their new baby.

The intention: To bring in a British tutor, who should speak with RP, to shape the baby right from the beginning.

Subtle Influence

"Much of the learning at the outset here is somewhat acquired indirectly," explained the CEO.

It's by means of this subtle influence that the family are aiming the child will adopt the UK customs they wish to impart.

The consultant explained the tutor had to be somebody who went to "prestigious academies – similar types of schools as the family plan to send their son to".

"The educator just has to be the right kind of person, they'll be carrying out things they aren't even aware they're doing, simply by nature," he commented.

Expense Not a Factor

The family informed the expert the selected educator should ideally also have understanding of or enthusiasm in equestrian activities, winter sports, the arts and musical activities so as to shape the child in a diverse set of interests.

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

In the family's minds, helping their son become a "UK sophisticate" will result in achievement and open doors.

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

However, despite all this instruction in "English culture", could the child adopt so-called cultural leaning from the globally influenced family he lives with regardless?

"Yes", replied he. "The parents know this could fail, but they've just taken the attitude of, 'we should try and we should start as quickly as we can', because the expense of it is not relevant," he said.

Idealistic and Unrealistic

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

Peter Cui, CEO and founder of a tutoring service, who provides private tutors, stated that "the development of adopting dual cultures, or actually, forming one's identity, is something that must be lived into, not engineered."

The expert explained that he had emigrated from the Far East to the Britain at the period of 7 years old, and had been educated experiencing and embodying dual heritages. He progressed to be educated at Cambridge University.

"The concept that one individual can function as a living vessel of English culture, an individual who can somehow transplant the attributes of a British gentleman upon a one-year-old child, seems to me idealistic and impractical," he wrote.

"Based on my background, having a distinctly English tutor from infancy will not necessarily produce the goal they hope for.

"I did not have that kind of mentor, and nevertheless I have been privileged enough to live several of the situations they aspire for their son."

He continued: "The fact is, cultural identity can not be forced from the external environment; it must be selected, and it must be internally driven."

Purchasing UK Culture

Of course, UK identity is something the CEO thinks can be instructed – and commercialized.

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