The comments on the display cases are in the same spirit as Joni Mitchell's "Big Yellow Taxi".
I see more and more of this packaging of the things that we did not realise were valuable to us until they were no longer there.
In Sydney we have a state owned museum called the Power House Museum, it is museum of technology, or at least that's what it was supposed to be when it was set up to replace the venerable Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences. Over the years since the Power House was opened it has deteriorated into nothing much more than a child minding facility.
Yes, it does have some quite good examples of technology, but it fails miserably as a museum.
We cannot blame the successive managers and administrators for this, it is a product of changes in community expectations and attitudes, combined with restriction of funds.
I believe the Grassi comments are saying:-
"there is more to education than simply looking at things in glass cases"
one could take the attitude that it is an encouragement to expand the mind and commence to learn.
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