When you choose a boarding school for your child, you are putting a lot of trust in the hands of the school and, in particular, the person responsible for boarding. A boarding master or house mistress has a big impact on your child’s emotional and personal needs while they are living away from home.
The same goes for teachers. We know that children don’t learn if they don’t trust and we trust that a reputable school will employ teachers they can trust to do their best.
A recent study in the US, published in Science Daily, suggests that there is a relationship between intelligence and trust. It found that intelligent people are more likely to trust other people. One suggested explanation is that more intelligent individuals are better at judging character and tend to form relationships with people who are less likely to betray them.
It’s an interesting concept. When we send our children to school, we put the care of our most precious possession into the hands of a stranger.
So let’s work on teaching our children how to judge character and appreciate positive traits as a way of helping them form good friendships at school and developing a support network of people they can rely on when they are away from home.
