The famous Spanish painter Pablo Picasso once said, “Every child is an artist. The problem he has is how to remain an artist once he grows up.”

This is both encouraging and discouraging. The fact that we were all born to be artists is certainly exciting, and yet the reality has proven that many of us have failed to remain one.

Fortunately, some people have seen the problem and want to solve it.

Western educators have suggested that we introduce the concept of “STEAM” instead of “STEM”—traditional “core majors” including science, technology, engineering, and math—since the “A”, which stands for “art”, is just as important.

And on April 11, China’s Ministry of Education issued a guideline. Colleges and universities are required to provide more art-related courses and students need to earn a certain number of art credits in order to graduate.

These efforts came after many scientific studies had found that art education helps students develop self-confidence and teamwork skills, as well as habits of mind such as problem solving and critical thinking, according to The Washington Post.

It’s true that none of these skills is aimed for specific jobs. But as former US ballet dancer Damian Woetzel told The Atlantic, the purpose of art is “to give kids the tools to become adults who are creative, adaptable, and expressive—capable of having their eyes and ears and senses alive”. And we can now see how we lost track of our born “artist self” on our way to growing up: We failed to keep our abilities to see, hear and feel, and became blind, deaf and insensitive adults.

Hopefully, art education can help turn things around.

【小题1】What is the function of the first paragraph?

A．To introduce the topic.	B．To summarize the whole passage.
C．To introduce a famous artist.	D．To encourage us to be artists.

【小题2】Why should the concept of “STEAM” be introduced according to western educators?

A．Art is as important as traditional “core majors”.

B．All of us should learn art in college.

C．Traditional “core majors” are out of date.

D．Western education is more helpful.

【小题3】What can we predict from the guideline issued by China’s Ministry of Education?

A．More art-related courses will appear in all schools.

B．College students will have to gain enough art credits to graduate.

C．More students will major in art at colleges and universities.

D．Art will become much more important than science.

【小题4】What is the best title of the passage?

A．Every child is an artist	B．Learning from the artists
C．Bringing art to life	D．Life is art