In "Hard Times" from Charles Dickens in tale "The Schoolmaster", Mr Gradgrind was a harsh teacher and embarassed Sissy, her pupil and call her Girl Number Twenty. This question is about them.
Mr. Gradgrind echoes his name. He grinds his students into a narrow mould of facts and figures,
"A man of realities. A man of facts and calculations. A man who proceeds upon the principle that two and two are four, and nothing over, and who is not to be talked into allowing for anything over."
He doesn't educate the child rather than hammers in facts and figures into faceless students. He is so impersonal that he doesn't even use names, instead he uses numbers like he does with Sissy.
I think this is one of the reflections of the utilitarianism. Utilitarianism aims the best but for the greatest numbers; not for each individual, so in that sense it requires some individuals to make sacrifices for the good of masses. And Mr Grandgrind's calling her just with her identity number has something to do with utilitarianism as well.
