Teachers
across Australia are spending their days fixated on a numbers centred and government
directed national testing exercise, called NAPLAN that measures students’ achievements
in some parts of the curriculum. At least one teacher I know is also awake
thinking about this in middle of the night as I learned via a ‘tweet’ from her
as I woke up to bottle feed my baby daughter at 3 am. Another teacher referred to NAPLAN thus “If
you’re Australian you’ll recognize and curse this particular acronym![i]“ This post also
relates to the Torah reading that begins with the book of “Numbers” which begins
with a census clarifying the number of men[ii].
What do we think about numbers and what they mean in terms of the value of that
which they count?
In
the Australian school context, while the tests are used to identify schools in
need of increased resources to address needs, at least one consequence of the
testing and quantifying achievement is an increased focus on one aspect of
teaching that can be “counted” at the expense of other teaching. As Jarvis, a
teacher in a remote Northern Territory Aboriginal school, tweeted, “Doing
some #NAPLAN prep with my Year 9s. Makes me feel like a fraud.. But want them
to do best - requires support[iii].
Today, a cross-cultural day that was planned for bringing together students
from an almost exclusively “white” background with students from Non-English
speaking backgrounds will not go ahead as planned due to pressures relating to
NAPLAN.
 |
| http://www.differencedifferently.edu.au/mapping_diversity/part_4a.php |
http://www.differencedifferently.edu.au/mapping_diversity/part_4a.php
The
matter of counting and recording numbers is a massive part of the functioning
of the modern state. Statistics is etymologically related to the word ‘state’[v],
because numbers “made the nation ‘legible’ for governing[vi]”.
Yet counting, even in ancient times, was already a controversial act. According
to some commentary, whenever Moses set out to count the Jews he would only do
so indirectly. The people gave coins and only the coins were counted rather
than the people[vii]; or only the names were
counted rather than the people[viii],
to prevent a plague[ix] which could result from
the “evil eye” that dominates during counting[x].
This fear was not unfounded, in fact a later census initiated by King David
which presumably did not take these precautions[xi]
results in the death of seventy seven thousand people[xii].
Even before these deaths, there is recognition that there is a problem with the
counting. Joab, the man tasked with the counting, resists, pleading with David
“why does my master seek this? Why should this be a sin against Israel?[xiii]”.
When Joab is pressured to proceed, he leaves out two tribes, Judah and
Benjamin, from the count because the king’s word had become loathsome to Joab[xiv]
and he wanted to protect as least those tribes[xv].
Despite
these issues, the book of numbers begins with a census commanded by God. It
would appear that counting can be good and bad. Counting can be a means for displaying
God's love[xvi], showing concern about
each individual, showing His interest in knowing the number who survived the
last tragedy. That which is counted is seen as having additional importance in
Jewish law[xvii], yet counting can also
stand in the way of the “blessing that is only found in that which is hidden
from eye[xviii]”. I think there would
be additional blessings for students if their teachers could focus on engaging
students without worrying about measurement, although some accountability is
needed.
Perhaps
counting indirectly serves as a reminder that the number is only a limited
representation, never the reality of that which is counted – a multifaceted full
human being, with beauty and ugliness, virtue and weakness, attachments, loss and
dreams, achieving a broad range of learnings including social, artistic and academic
insights - that has inestimable value that can never be captured in a
number.
[i] McKenzie S.,
(2013) The Curse of Competence. The connected Teacher Blog. Retrieved from http://theconnectedteacher.edublogs.org/2013/05/08/the-curse-of-competence/ 9/05/2013
[ii] Numbers 1:2
[iii] Ryan, J,
(2013), retrieved from https://twitter.com/jarvis001 9/5/2013 he also points out that “My students
would do a lot better if NAPLAN was translated into their 1st language. It's
not about understanding, it's a language barrier.”
[iv]
http://www.differencedifferently.edu.au/mapping_diversity/part_4a.php
[v] Lingard, B,
(2011), Policy as numbers: ac/counting for educational research
[vi] Scott, J. C.
cited in Lingard (2011)
[vii] Rashi to
Numbers 1:2, this view is disputed by Abarbanel, who states that coins were
only used in an earlier census
[viii] Mincha Belulah
[ix] Exodus 30:12
[x] Rashi
commentary on Exodus 30:12
[xi] Metzudat David
commentary on Samuel II, 24:10
[xii] Samuel II, 24:15
[xiii] Chronichles I
21:3
[xiv] Chronichles I
21:6
[xv] Rashi
commentary on Chronichles I 21:6
[xvi] Rashi Numbers 1:2
[xvii] The Lubavitcher Rebbe, cited in Weisberg, C, Don’t Women count?
http://www.chabad.org/parshah/article_cdo/aid/385864/jewish/Don%E2%80%99t-Women-Count.htm
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