by Corey Walker
Deborah Ball, a mathematics professor at the University of Michigan, argued in a podcast that the discipline inflicts racism against Black and Latino students.
On Jul 21, Ball appeared on an episode of the Ed Fix Podcast titled “Fighting Racism with Mathematics” to make her case.
Ball said on the podcast that mathematics is “dominated by Whiteness and racism.” She also expressed frustration at her mathematics and science colleagues. whom she described as resistant to her ideas that the disciplines are just as subjective in interpretation and analysis as the humanities.
“It’s difficult to figure out how to surface and unpack the ways that mathematics, for example is a harbor for whiteness,” Ball stated.
Last week, the University of Michigan’s shared the podcast episode on its Twitter account.
According to Ball, “Whiteness” plays an integral role in explaining the racial and ethnic disparities that exist in mathematics performance. She claimed that since White and Asian students are overrepresented in high-level mathematics, new pedagogy is required to increase access to underrepresented minority students.
“Mathematics, despite the way we represent it, is something that many cultures and communities have created and there are people, scholars in our country, and teachers who have exploited opportunities to broaden kids’ views of mathematics,” Ball said in the podcast.
More broadly, Ball views racial injustice as an issue that permeates the educational system. Writing for the Detroit Free Press on March 21, Ball stated, “As districts emerge from the quarantine of the last year, the plans for a safe return to school must take a fuller view of the safety needed to dismantle anti-Blackness and white supremacy in our educational systems.”
Additionally, her official biography states that her research uses mathematics as a way to investigate how to build relationships with children and also how to “disrupt racism, marginalization, and inequity.”
Her past positions include dean of the University of Michigan School of Education, president of the American Educational Research Association, and member of the National Science Board.
Currently, she teaches numerous courses in the education school’s graduate program and her curriculum places emphasis on race, justice, and inequity.
Her syllabus for “ED 469: Foundational Perspectives on Education Reform” asks students to ponder, “How does education reform look across time in the evolution of U.S. education? How does reform reproduce larger structural and historical racism, sexism, and other patterns of exclusion and power, and (how) can it challenge and disrupt such structures?”
The syllabus mentions “racism” or “racism” 17 times, “equity” or “inequity” 10 times, and “marginalization” or “marginalized” 3 times.
Campus Reform reached out to Deborah Ball and the University of Michigan for comment; this article will be updated accordingly.
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Corey Walker is a writer for Campus Reform.
Background photo “University of Michigan Law School” by Flavinista (CC BY-SA 4.0), photo “The Outlook for U.S. Education” by Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy University of Michigan (CC BY-ND 2.0).
Amen, sir! Your criticism of her and her antics does not go far enough. The article states, “She also expressed frustration at her mathematics and science colleagues. whom she described as resistant to her ideas…”. Deborah, you’re frustrated?! You have no idea how “frustrated” all the rationale people are, to whom you spew this drivel. You being frustrated should be a wake up call that you’re full of nonsense, and YOU should reconsider the ludicrousness of your premise.
It’s this simple. Math, more than almost any other topic in humankind, is perfect equality. Excluding upper division theory classes, it is beholden to rules and operations that ALWAYS result in the same conclusion, regardless of the aspirant. The rules are not harder or easier for anyone to learn over anyone else with the same intelligence. All I can conclude from your diatribe is that YOU are racist, implying that Black and Latino people are dumber than White and Asian people.
Shame on you. Your premise is what marginalizes these students, not math itself.
Faculty such as Deborah Ball are an embarrassment to both the profession and to the University of Michigan. Just her premise of mathematics and science being racist ought to be grounds for the university to dismiss her for her lunatic claims. If she truly believes and truly professes what was included in this article then she should be dismissed for incompetence.
Illogical calisthenics and contortion to dig frantically for credence to an absolute absurd, lunatic concept.
All kids can learn math. Its a fixed set of operations, has worked for thousands of years…
Im white, and i suck at math! BUT, i have worked with some BRILLIANT black engineers who do trig in thrir heads!
The fact that this foolish woman is teaching kids is its own travesty.
Deborah Ball is White. She obviously has a ‘White Savior Complex” and thinks Black people need her to save them. She thinks Black people aren’t smart enough to understand math, so she proposes to change math. That is a patronizing and Racist attitude.
Absolutely!
I agree with the professor. When idiots like her teach any subject it becomes racist.
University of Michigan Professor Says Math and Science Classes Are Racist
August 19, 2021 Admin
by Corey Walker
Ball said on the podcast that mathematics is “dominated by Whiteness and racism.”
I don’t know if that’s true or not but if dominance in an area indicates racism, what does that say about the NFL and NBA?
“It’s difficult to figure out how to surface and unpack the ways that mathematics, for example is a harbor for whiteness,” Ball stated.
Perhaps it’s difficult because it’s not real!
I am certified in Middle Grades Math and Science and have taught math and science in grades 7-9. Math is not objective. 2+2=4. There’s no other answer but 4!