Band 8 essay sample | Museums should be enjoyable places to entertain people

The following is an essay submitted by one of our readers.

Some people think that museums should be enjoyable places to entertain people, while others believe that the purpose of museums is to educate. Discuss both views and give your own opinion.

Band 8 essay sample

People have different views about the purpose of museums in modern society. While it’s true that museum – as tourist attractions – should be fascinating, I stand by the idea that the main role of the museum is to give knowledge of cultural, religious and historical importance.

On the one hand, it can be argued that museums should be entertaining and more attractive to the public. Museums are widely considered as important tourist attractions of any cities or countries. However, there’s a common belief that they are too elitist, uninspiring and only encourage educated people to visit. By adding more entertainment values, museums can appeal to a broader audience. Nowadays there is also a wide range of museums which do not have academic purpose; but more light-hearted and humorous theme; for example; chocolate museum in Belgium, kimchi museum in South Korea, museum of Broken Relationships in Croatia or cheese museum in The Netherlands.

On the other hand, I strongly believe that the main purpose of museums is to educate people as they exhibit collections of interesting objects that hold great cultural or historical values. The aim of any exhibitions is to teach visitors things that they didn’t know before. To achieve that, museums usually offer free guided tours with professional guides or give away brochures, guidebooks, audio tapes that contain detailed information about the exhibitions. By doing that, museums should play an important role in teaching people about history, culture, science and many other aspects of life.

In conclusion, I think museums, as educational institutions, should offer educative, interesting and enjoyable experiences to visitors.