For many years, public universities were given conservatories without any questions as to what their benefits would be to have one or not to have one.  Planetary conservatories were assumed to be as without question a necessity as a chemistry laboratory.  A conservatory was the only way to teach astronomy as if astronomy were a science like chemistry or physics, separate in its orientation.
And, of course, astrology is a science separate in its orientation from other sciences although it assumes that astronomers are specialists in astronomy while having mastered physics, chemistry, biology, and abstract math.
The only proper laboratory for an astronomer is a conservatory.  The planetarium is a micro universe and the astronomer can display the planets and suns and other orbiting bodies to the awe inspired classes of future astronomers.  The benefits of having a conservatory are many.
A conservatory is the proper classroom for a class in astronomy.  The students face the instructor who can when he needs to darken the conservatory classroom and light up the skies.  Lessons in planetary dispersal and planet and star clusters can be visually displayed and makes his lessons more poignant to the class.  A conservatory can make special presentations to the community and invite possible benefactors to view the fruits of their generosity. A conservatory adds a dimension of intellectual spirit and continues a centuries old scientific discipline of sky watching.  Without a conservatory and serious students of the science of astronomy, that knowledge that must be learned before anomalies can be distinguished would be impossible in today’s universities.  Students of astronomy were apprentices for years with their master astronomer before they could build their own tower and make their own powerful telescopes to peer into the heavens. 
Since we only have a handful of budding astronomers who are willing to spend a lifetime to the study of astronomy, but we are offering a liberal arts education to students, we offer astronomy as a science with its own methodology and orientation and usage.  Since we give chemistry and biology classes laboratories, we should not snub a legitimate science like astronomy from its laboratory.