In order to understand a society, we must examine the contents of its museums and the subjects of its memorials. What a society chooses to preserve, display, and commemorate is the truest indicator of what the society values.
Discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the opinion stated above. Support your position with reasons and/or examples from your own experience, observations, or reading.
The speaker alleges that understanding a society requires examining its memorials and museums, since their subject matter and contents are the truest indicators of what a society values. I agree that we can learn a great deal about a society through its museums and memorials. However, these may not be the truest indicators of social values. To discover other values that shape a society, we also need to examine it popular forms of expression.
Museums and memorials offer important evidence of what a society holds dear. For instance, early war memorials symbolize abstract virtues such as courage and honor, as well as combat victory. Later memorials honoring the fallen in Vietnam tend to emphasize individual sacrifice that will present its history in ways that underscore its hardships, achievements and ideals. When museums present evidence of a social failing, such as racism, the intent is to stress a cherished ideal, such as equality, that has been violated.