第四类 艺术

01 How important is art education and why?

1.1 重要

1.1.1 增强创造力

Without art, students would never truly know how to express themselves by simply learning math and science. It will also boost their creativity. For example, in a painting class, children are asked to create vivid images of houses, people, and places. Sometimes, they are even asked to create abstract art, such as a painting that represents their memories or emotions. It obviously makes use of one's imagination. Furthermore, if children think creatively, it will become a habit and stay with them in the future.

1.1.2 增强自信

Learning arts helps students to build up their self-esteem, since children would constantly gain a great sense of achievement from performing simple and light-hearted activities such as drawing and singing. It just feels great when you sing a song perfectly or when you are done with a painting. I remember when I was little, when someone saw my artwork, I could gain immeasurable joy from seeing his or her reactions. I felt so proud to be unique and express my artistic style.

1.2 不重要

1.2.1 其他学科教育更重要

Not important, because science education is more important. You can live your whole life without visiting the Mona Lisa. Some argue that it has changed their lives. Imagine how much of change you'd feel if you suddenly didn't have electricity, or the plague was never deemed curable. Science has made a bigger difference than art. It has cured diseases, increased food production, made water purification possible, etc. If students spend too much time on art instead of science which has more practical values, they will realize how stupid they are when they become adults, If you can't explain to your kids why the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, I am pretty sure the Mona Lisa will be the last thing on your mind.

1.2.2 没时间

I don't have time to go to art classes. I have so much other schoolwork to do. For example, I study engineering and it is tough. I have to finish 20 credits per semester, all for compulsory courses. Everyday I study until midnight in the library. I am exhausted. It would drive me crazy if I had to learn courses outside my major field, and that would definitely affect my academic performance .

02 Which one of the following two factors contributes more to the success of an artist? (Natural talent or hard work)

2.1 天赋

画画

Talent is more important. Some people are just naturally more inclined towards art. For example, I tried to learn to draw and paint for a year, but couldn't do it well even after a year of hard work. Give me a paint brush and a canvas and I still don't know where to start. However, one day, I saw my little sister's water color painting. I was amazed by its wide range of colors. It seemed very skillful and creative to me. When I asked her about this, she told me she never had any training. She was just drawing pictures to loosen up and have fun. From that point, I knew that hard work means something, but when it comes to success, talent is more of a vital factor.

2.2 勤奋

2.2.1 雕刻

I was not very good at sculpting or drawing but I made a decision to spend the rest of my life learning it. I told myself that I could succeed without talent. I travelled all the way to Italy and went into the studios to learn from the finest artists of the day. It was not easy, but I found myself slowly improving. I spent years of daily practice working steadily. After three years, I realized I could sculpt a figure, and after five years, I could sculpt movement. It wasn't until about the 7th year when I finally started developing a style of my own. The galleries started opening their doors and my work was being sold. If I believed art was a talent I would have given up long ago. The ability to create art is something that is earned through years of constant study and dedication. It is not a gift given at birth.

2.2.2 练习乐器

People have to work hard to get success. Even though some people don't have talent, hard work will get them to the point in the long run. For example, I have loved piano since I was a kid. I started playing in 4th grade, but I still couldn't complete a piece of simple music after 3 years. I didn't give up and kept doing 56 hours of practice every single day. The notes even played themselves in my dream. Knowing the truth, that I don't have talent, let me be more positive and open minded in the things that I was learning and experimenting. I didn't shy away when I made mistakes, instead I kept practicing until I could play a passage perfectly. Finally, my hard work paid off. I got the first prize in a piano contest and ended up winning a 4-year scholarship to a music college.

03 Is it important for the government to spend money on art museums?

3.1 Yes

3.1.1 让人们更好地了解城市

Museums show you the history of the city and how it evolved. If I want to explore a city, a museum is always the first place to go. When I first visited Beijing, I went to the Palace museum. I was amazed by the architecture, art collections and photos. It showed me how the city served as the home of the Emperor and his household for almost five centuries, and how it eventually became the ceremonial and political center of China. The museum has thousands of rooms with millions of artifacts inside. It tells me everything I want to know about the city.

3.1.2 增加城市收入

One benefit of spending money on museums is that it generates a lot of revenue for the government. When you open a travel magazine, art museums are always among the top-rated tourist attractions. Good art museums attract even more tourists. For example, I live in Beijing, an historic city in China, where we have 50 million visitors a year. It's the museums that support the development of hotels, restaurants, car rental agencies, tour companies, souvenir shops, and much more. All of these create jobs for people. If the government spends more money to build better museums, more tourists will come. The people in the city can earn more money to live a better life.

3.2 No

浪费时间

Travelling to the museum is time-consuming. Generally, museums are built in suburban areas, which are extremely hard to travel to. For example, once I wanted to visit the military museum of China, which is located like 200 miles from downtown. I could not find any bus or subway that could get me there; neither could I afford to take a taxi, which was way too expensive for a student like me. In the end I had to call my friends and have them drive me there, which took like 2 hours.

04 Would you enroll in your school's art classes?

4.1 Yes

学会欣赏

I would. I can obviously understand the abstract masterpieces better after I took art classes at school. I couldn't appreciate arts before taking the class. Give me famous paintings from different eras, and I had no idea what the difference in technique was. And I couldn't relate to the pictures either. To me, a passionate piece with strong emotion underneath could look just like a mixture of mystical lines and dots. But then I applied to an art history class in college. I started to understand that lots of artists were working under a unique set of circumstances, which affected their works. There were personal, political, sociological and religious factors behind creation. After I learned the stories behind these artworks, I could finally appreciate arts.

4.2 No

没意义

I never truly grasp the purpose of learning art history. Not everyone is an artist, so why bother to learn the history of a subject with which they will never get involved? I have always hated those people who constantly brag about their“erudition” of arts. For example, a friend of mine, Jason, can tell you the exact date when Mozart composed his symphonies, but he cannot distinguish the most distinguishable music with his ears. To me, these people are just forcing themselves to remember the things they are not even interested in, for the mere purpose of being“erudite”.