Just a Number

Day 4, More than a Number

Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. Matthew 10:31 (ESV)

              A common practice in classrooms is assigning numbers to students and labeling everything with that number. Notebooks, pencils, crayon packs, textbooks, tests, and line placement. Teachers even write these numbers on popsicle sticks to draw and call on random students during the lesson to ensure engagement. It’s very efficient for a teacher, especially when trying to keep anonymity.

              In these classrooms, test scores and achievement are ranked by number. This way teachers can navigate mastery percentages and chart progress. They group by proficiency, not personality. In many ways, this can give a broader sense of achievement across the board to all students and let the teacher break things down more efficiently.

              Behind the number there is a complete student. Personality, talents, hobbies, and dreams. These students all matter and bring purpose and direction to the classroom. The teacher looks past the number and sees the broader picture. Their students are not just a number.

              But there was a time in history when people were reduced to only a number. Their whole identities were scrubbed, worldly goods taken, and a string of numbers tattooed onto their arms. These people were told lies about relocation and ended up losing everything they had. Most were Jews, and some were from other cultural backgrounds. The German army mindlessly obeyed the orders to strip these people down to humiliation and convince them to be thankful they weren’t shot or sent to the gas chambers.

The Germans, filled with hate, reduced these people to the number tattooed on their forearm. Doctors, moms, pastors, businessmen, clerks, mechanics, artists, songwriters, teachers, nurses, and bankers; these personas were stripped away with their discarded clothes and often disappeared for good. Hundreds of thousands died in those camps. Names. All carrying a story. Reduced to a number. A statistic.

None of the Jews were a mere statistic. And none of our students are either. Each life matters and even if assigned a number, that number will always have a face and name attached. Our students matter. They matter to their classmates. And our future. The way we teach could impact and change a kid for the rest of their life.

Do the Heart Work

1.      How does it feel to not be seen; considered only a number?

2.      How can we ensure our students know they are more than a number, statistic, or test score?

3.      What does God say about the value and worth of our students?

Digging Deeper

1.      For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. Psalm 139:13-16 (ESV)

2.      Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Matthew 6:26 (ESV)

3.      Know that the Lord, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Psalm 100:3 (ESV)

In God’s economy, every person matters. There are no numbers; there are souls, and each one is valuable.

If You Get Spare Time

              Read an article or book about the people who were mistreated, lied to, and abused during the Jewish Holocaust. They might have been only numbers to the Germans, but God still saw each one of them. There are so many stories of redemption and hope that came out of this terrible time in history. Educate yourself. And your students. May we never forget what happens when people are reduced to numbers.