That's the firm belief of long-time educator Steven Armstrong, who says knowledge sometimes seems to get in the road of wisdom.

The head of junior school at Trinity Anglican College Thurgoona is convinced we are in the midst of one of the kindest generations on record and explored the topic at a recent assembly.

With a career spanning four decades, many of those teaching high school students, he is relishing his time listening to the gentle and generous philosophies of children in kindergarten, year 1 and 2.

"I was preparing a lesson for 2KH - I always give classes a nickname so they were Kind Hearted - and reading a lovely book called Be Kind," Mr Armstrong explained.

"Talking and working with younger students often creates a different emphasis on aspects of the heart rather than the mind."

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A maths teacher by trade, Mr Armstrong felt compelled to do some further research to see if the statistics added up to what he's witnessed in the classroom and playground.

He found a site with some very interesting research on kindness including a graph - "I love a good graph" - which confirmed what he'd been thinking.

It appears in 1827, kindness was at its peak.

"I can only surmise it had something to do with family life and strength of the village; the sense of shared community was really strong," Mr Armstrong said.

"Kindness was at its lowest in 1987; interest rates were horrific (17 and 18 per cent), there was a lot of 'oh woe is me' in Australia and other countries were struggling.

"There were insular aspects to world politics; for example overseas aid as a percentage of GDP was at its lowest."

What was heartening for Mr Armstrong to note was the upward curve of kindness in recent times.

"The past five years has seen the sharpest increase in acts of kindness," he revealed.

He attributes this to "the young people I get to work with every day".

"Empathy has grown and kindness is considered the most important quality," Mr Armstrong said.

"I see that a lot of young people are now working on the adage that being is more important than having."

Mr Armstrong believes his point is best summed up in the words of one of his former students, Georgia.

"Students like to ask a lot of questions and this particular student asked me what it meant to be kind," he began.

"I like to put it back to them so I asked her, 'Well, what does it mean to you? Being generous, gentle, friendly, caring, having good manners?'

"She replied: 'It's all of that Mr A and a lot more!'

"It made me smile - and she was absolutely right."