|
|
Some museums charge visitors for admission while others arefree. What is your opinion? Give reasons for your answer andinclude any relevant examples from your own knowledge orexperience.
Museums should feel free to charge admission so as not toentirely count on government funding, particularly in a climateof austerity. Nowadays, museums are increasingly becomingentertainment, with some good museums mixing witheducation, of course. Analogically, a museum sounds like a public library for the purpose ofeducation; and for that of entertainment, it is similar to a theater.
But for financial reasons, it would be a great idea to have free museums like public libraries that areavailable to all who are interested in gaining knowledge. Museums may be comparable to libraries inthe sense that both are repositories of knowledge. Like books in the libraries, pieces of arts andother objects of cultural, scientific, or historical importance in the museums are tools for life-longeducation because it is through them that we discover and explore various aspects of humanity. In view of this claim, museums should be free for the good of the individual and society as a whole. Besides, free access will not only encourage more people to find out about their country but alsopromote feelings of national unity and identity and lead to greater understanding of foreigncultures and histories. Indeed, many people would be appalled, should public libraries chargeentrance fees, so why museums should be any different?
Nevertheless, the core issue is about the costs of exhibitions because usually museums areextremely expensive to run. Operating on a limited annual budget, any museum would be in acrisis sooner or later without an increasingly supportive government as the only source of funding. Thus, if museums offering free general admission to visitors were entirely funded out ofgovernment money, then the pressure on other government's demands of hospitals, schools, pensions, etc. would invariably make museums a poor second, resulting in under-funding andconsequently lack of excellence. This leads some people to think that museums ought to chargevisitors for admission since they are designed to entertain the public as are theaters, for thatmatter. To be realistic in the presence of the current economic recession, the government simplycould not afford to fund any activity of possible value, such as paying all the bills generated bymuseum management.
In any case, the museum purposes change from institution to institution, with some museumsfavoring education over entertainment, and vice versa. Were free museum entertainmentconsidered as a cultural right, should the government make theater tickets free as well? Or shouldmuseums in financial stress just start selling off their artifacts to make ends meet? |
|
发表于 2016-7-10 15:17:01