Museums today: Education or Entertainment?
Leon Liu
Integrative Seminar 2
June 23, 2015
Liu 2
Are museums today for education or entertainment? It seems that a museum
is actually a synthesis of both entertainment and education, and this is supported by
Eilean Hooper-Greenhill’s book Museums and Their Visitors. At the same time, the
museum today has become a public place for acquiring knowledge, as seen in
George E. Hein’s "Museum education.” In order to educate the visitors, however,
Hein suggests that entertaining them should happen first, as does Eugene I, Knez,
"The museum as a communications system: An assessment of Cameron's
viewpoint."
Most of the art works and sculptures in a museum are a source for students.
On the other hand, for people who are really need to work on these artworks,
museums are also can be a place to relax and communicate with surroundings. That
is also why there are more tourists now like to have a trip to museum. They can
know more about he city or even the country through the museum, it seems to be an
educating process eventually also. Education and entertainment come forth
together. Eilean Hooper-Greenhill mentions in her book Museums and Their Visitors:
The task for museums and galleries today is to find appropriate
ways to enable the most people to benefit from the resources that
we are privileged to hold. Museums today are inescapably part of
the leisure industry. This was not the case some twenty years ago,
when the leisure industry was itself young and undeveloped.
Museums occupy a particular niche in the leisure industry that is
open on the one side to leisure, fun and entertainment, but which
is firmly joined to the educational world on the other. This link is
strong and growing stronger and it is precisely this link to
education that constitutes the appeal to leisure audiences. We can
enjoy ourselves and try something new and probably good for us
at the same time. We can entertain and yet also educate the
children.1
Hooper-Greenhill, Eilean, Museums and Their Visitors, London, GBR: Routledge,
1994, Accessed June 19, 2015, ProQuest ebrary.
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This reminds me the assignment that we just did, the artworks and sculptures that I
took pictures before in the field trip was a source that I can use for class, at the same
time, we have to do more research and learning about the artworks or artists in
order to use the source in the correct place. This is the process of education.
Museum education is now a new way for the public to acquire knowledge. In
early years, people were thinking that school is the only place to educate students.
Nevertheless, education has becomes a very important element in urban design. The
goal of building a public place is to have more people learn something that they
never knew about before. Thus, the museum is not only an exhibition of artworks,
but also a place for citizens to explore academic knowledge. George E. Hein states in
his book Museum Education:
Current definitions of museums — whether describing an
institution that contains precious objects, material of primarily
historical or scientific value, natural settings designated as
museums, or specially built exhibitions used to illustrate ideasusually include some statement about public access and
education. According to the international Council of Museums: ‘a
museum is non- profit making, permanent institution in the
service of society and of its development, and open to the public,
which acquires, conserves, researches, communicates and
exhibits, for purpose of study, education and enjoyment, material
evidence of people and their environment.’ This statement, on
the current ICOM website (2005), illustrates the growing
recognition of the significance of education.2
The museums are not build for financial market, that is why many museums are free
or visitors can choose how much they want to pay. No better at earlier generation or
now, the museums uphold the original utility that let people to obtain both visual
Hein, George E, "Museum education," A companion to museum studies (2006): 340352.
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and intellectual influences. Hampton Stevens says: “A museum can't be successful,
he said, if it doesn't allow people the psychic space to have their own, individual
reactions to the objects on display."3 It suggests that human reaction is really
important to the artworks. The audiences are not just watching or taking pictures in
the museum. There should be a sense of communication between the art works and
visitors.
If you want people to learning something, it is better to make it entertaining.
The best way to attract people’s attention is make them curious. If people feel like
there are some interesting things in that museum or the theme or type of the
exhibition is really different as others, they may take a chance to visit. Therefore, the
museum will achieve the goal of both entertaining and educating at the end. Wright
A. Gilbert and Eugene I. Knez indicate in the book The Museum as a Communications
System: An Assessment of Cameron’s Viewpoint, “In a museum of natural history the
exhibitor (transmitter) generally draws on the data banks of one or more of the
major museum-related
academic disciplines (zoology, paleontology, geology,
botany, anthropology) , bringing scientific facts and theoretical concepts into a
relationship with one or more selected museum objects (including specimens and
models) in order to inform, instruct, or entertain the museum visitor.”4 The
museum should captivate people first, so they can make people learn or explore
more deep meaningful knowledge in the museum when they visit there. Another
Stevens, Hampton, “Museum Want to Entertain You (and That’s not a Bad Thing)”,
April 19, 2012, http://www.theatlantic.com/
4 Knez, Eugene I., and A. GILBERT WRIGHT, "The museum as a communications
system: An assessment of Cameron's viewpoint," Curator: The Museum Journal 13,
no. 3 (1970): 204-212.
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great example will be the “Learning Machine”. A lot of parents would like to buy a
learning machine to their children even though they are too young to try the
electronic devices. Why? Because it is a machine that can make the learning process
more interesting and let kids get into it. The learning machine get the idea of
attracting children first and then educate them. Many children want to try the
learning machine because the advanced science and technology make them curious.
Same as the museum, visitors feel that there is something that I have never seen
before, so they decided to go. Thus, museum is a synthesis of entertainment and
education.
The museum today has become a public place for learning. Entertaining
visitors is also an important point during the educating process. Museums combine
the education and entertainment together in order to attract people rapidly and let
them study through the artworks.
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Bibliography
Hooper-Greenhill, Eilean, Museums and Their Visitors, London. GBR: Routledge,
1994. Accessed June 19, 2015. ProQuest ebrary.
Hein, George E. "Museum education." A companion to museum studies (2006): 340352.
Knez, Eugene I., and A. GILBERT WRIGHT. "The museum as a communications
system: An assessment of Cameron's viewpoint." Curator: The Museum
Journal 13. no. 3 (1970): 204-212.
Steven, Hampton, “Museum Want to Entertain You (and That’s not a Bad Thing)”.
April 19, 2012. http://www.theatlantic.com/