Some people think that museums should entertain people while others believe that the purpose of museums is to educate. Discuss both views and give your own opinion.
Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your knowledge or experience.
Nowadays museums are becoming entertainment, with good ones mixing entertainment with education. Housing samples of civilization's historical and artistic treasures, museums usually have something to teach, but what they teach may not be what people want to see. In addition to essentially being educational in nature, a museum must be fun enough to entertain visitors since what is enjoyable is good for the public.
Figuratively, all museums are like schools of various disciplines ranging from history to arts to science. A well-established museum summarizes something of the human experience and such experience from the past to the present is always a great teacher of specific subjects. By transforming time into space, a museum makes educational sense because it is dedicated to preserving and displaying the tangible and intangible evidence of the heritages of humanity and its environment. In this regard, a museum is generally regarded as necessarily educational. Failing that purpose, the existence of any museum is in doubt. Hence, all museums aim to teach something which visitors are curious about.
On the other hand, a museum tour should be made an amusing event for individuals, families and sight-seeing groups. Museum-going can be as enjoyable as window-shopping in a customer-friendly department store, far from being bored by the sight of objects on exhibition simply for the educational purpose . It is important that there be at least "serious fun" about it. Without the prospect of having entertainment, many people, particularly children, might think twice before making that trip . Just because a museum is established to be chiefly educational, it does not mean that entertainment is denied. This applies to holiday-goers who are looking exactly for that kind of pleasure and relaxation which a good museum can provide.
The argument for entertainment is based on public interest in having a good time in a way very unlike studying in school. An ideal museum should therefore be a mating of entertainment and education, provoking intense and pleasurable nostalgia that none of its audience has had. It is certainly better to let any visitor feel pretty much of an "entertained student" instead of a "bored tourist".
