The artistic display of ancient history, art, and culture found in museums is nothing short of grandeur. Museums researches, acquire, and interpret tangible artifacts related to the culture and heritage of a people. For students visiting such an institution, they get a chance for a critical inquiry to ascertain specific facts.
Fewer trips to the museums have had an effect where students who have never attended a museum show little appreciation for classical and art. Attending a museum should be on every administrator's mind and here are examples of why students need to visit a museum while in college:
Break Classroom Monotony
As a student, you work hard. You study smart so that you can answer questions with ease, be it for your homework, CATs, or term papers. When you face challenges, you try and get help from a
student success center. It's always about the classroom. It's always about the assignment. And more importantly, it's always about the GPA.
However, once you get to visit a museum, you get to break away from the classroom monotony and learn in a different environment. After all, we go to the museum to learn
History paper writing. Though, away from the pressures of the college environment.
Critical Thinking
When students visit any museums, they expand on their general world knowledge, but importantly they acquire critical thinking skills. Yes, students will get art on display, and the museum's attendant would prompt them to think critically of what's happening in the painting, vet responses first before giving the ideal picture.
Do that for several paints, and at some points, you find students being able to independently judge a panting to try and figure out the artist's message. Critical thinking about arts would naturally transfer to critical thinking in real-life situations.
Historical Empathy
While visiting the museums by students is culturally enriching, there has been a decline in student trips to museums and other cultural history sites. According to research by the American Association of School Administrators, financial pressures have forced school administrators to
cut on school field trips, or even worse, eliminate the same.
Yet, visiting museums expose students to the diverse culture of people from around the globe. Consequently, they get to appreciate and understand how far as a human race, we have come. Such students are less likely to act out of ignorance and demean students from different cultures than theirs. Besides, higher learning institutions are composed of varying students from a diverse background.
Interest in Art
The most important aspect of why students need to visit museums is to cultivate an interest in learning about our cultures and heritage. It's to spark interest in a student to continue visiting such institutions throughout the remainder of their lives.
Students who have visited the museums and learned that every artifact on display has a story behind it will appreciate the art. When listening to music, it will no longer be about the beat, but the artistic message, the poetry of words. When looking at a painting, it will no longer be just about aesthetic beauty, but about the hidden message hidden in plain sight.
Wrap Up
Greater focus to increase students' performance, especially in math and sciences, is one of the reasons, apart from finance, to cut on school field trips. Unfortunately, even when students contribute themselves for a field trip, they rarely chose to visit a museum but rather to be tourists to popular cities or towns.
The examples above demonstrate how vital visits to the museum and cultural or heritage sites should be made mandatory for any college student. Otherwise, we risk having a future generation that rarely takes their kids to the museum. It's time we bring back the culture of students piled up in yellow buses for a field trip to cultural institutions like museums.
