The Revisionaries (2012)

The Revisionaries is about the effect of religious board members on the Texas Board of Education resulting in religious “history” being taught in school and textbooks. The Revisionaries also deals with many issues surrounding religion in education including religious members being allowed to serve on the board, the low voting rate in Texas, and the lacking standards of what is required of potential board members to be elected to the Texas Board of Education.

The Revisionaries I believe needed a narrator to better organize the story and make it easier to follow. I also think that in the beginning at least this documentary seemed above my head because there were a lot of terms that I didn’t know and that were not defined. I could just be an idiot but I do think that if a documentary is meant to be watched by everybody technical educational terms should be defined.

Texas: Church & State

In The Revisionaries conservative board members on the Texas Board of Education voted to include the bible’s religious history while also taking out important historical figures and events that are non religious or contradict religion.

Cynthia Dunbar a now past member of the Texas Board of Education argued that religion has always been a part of America and that religious history has been ignored for too long. I would say that the problem created with Cynthia Dunbar’s argument is that with a majority rule any religion including paganism or Jehovah Witnesses, etc if enough people of that religion were elected to the board could change history according to “their” account of history. I believe this is a dangerous precedent that history is not according to fact but according to religion which means that if I believe because of my religion that something happened whether I can prove it or not I can make it history.

Setting Our Kids up for Failure

The Revisionaries is frightening because I can’t help but think about what a disadvantage Texan schoolchildren who are affected by these textbook changes will have when they get to college. Unless these Texan children attend a religious specific college they will be behind and a lot of the information they have [such as God being in the constitution] will be challenged and they will suffer as a result. At the least in college they will have to re-learn everything religion has touched in their educational career. I believe these board members’ decisions to make religion the priority will put the kids in Texas at a major disadvantage compared to the rest of the country.

Voting: Uninterested or Uninformed

The Revisionaries stated that in the 2010 Board of Education re-election vote only 20% of Texas participated. I assume that most people in Texas have children and especially since what the board passed in 2010 will affect their children primarily negatively I am surprised that more people in Texas did not vote. However a different way to look at the voting issue could be do the Texan people really know or understand what is happening on the Board of Education because I think that if they really did more people in Texas would vote and change what’s happening.

What Do You Think?

Should religious history be taught in schools why or why not? Do you believe that children taught religious history will have a negative effect their educational career? Do you think board members with religious affiliations should be allowed to serve on the Board of Education why or why not? Please leave us a comment below and share your thoughts.