Which of the following does the author suggest about museums?
Controversy over statues of figures whose wealth came from the slave trade is often cast as a choice between removing them and preserving history. The choice is misleading. A statue is not a record of the past; it is an honour paid in the present. Nobody pulls down a history book. To decline to honour a person is not to forget him, and the person's deeds can be taught more truthfully in a museum, with context, than on a plinth, where only praise appears. At the same time, those who tear down monuments by force bypass the debate that should decide the matter. The better course is for communities to decide openly, by a process people accept, which statues remain, which move and which are accompanied by a plaque saying what is not otherwise remembered.
Answer and explanation
Correct answer: D. They can present a person's deeds with context that a plinth does not provide
- Step 1: The author says deeds can be taught more truthfully in a museum, with context, than on a plinth.
- Step 2: The only choice consistent with this is "They can present a person's deeds with context that a plinth does not provide".
Answer
They can present a person's deeds with context that a plinth does not provide.
Why not the others: The passage does not say museums should hold every removed statue, refuse controversial figures, be the only teachers of history or be less truthful than monuments.
Practise more Public memory.
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