Cai Yuanpei was the first educational thinker who put forward that "military education, materialism education, civic moral education, world outlook education and aesthetic education cannot be ignored in modern education", and advocated that five kinds of education should be carried out simultaneously, which is a remarkable feature of Cai Yuanpei's educational thought.

1, it is urgent to advocate national education for military personnel;

On the one hand, due to the international and domestic situation faced by China at that time, it was necessary for the whole country to be a soldier; On the other hand, we should also cultivate a sound personality, and physical education is the basis for implementing the other four educations.

2. Take materialist education as an urgent task;

Materialist education (intellectual education) means "general education based on people's livelihood", which includes the study of various general cultural and scientific knowledge, such as history, geography, mathematics, chemistry, handicrafts, natural history and so on. We should also strengthen vocational skills training and close the relationship between education and national economic life, so that it can play a role in improving national economic capacity and improving people's lives.

3. Centering on moral education;

Civic moral education (moral education) is the basis of developing a sound personality. In order to avoid the tragedy of private struggle, aggression, wisdom deceiving fools, bullying the weak, the rich and the poor hanging in the air, and the bloody battle between capitalists and laborers, we must "teach them civic morality."

4. Take world outlook education as the ultimate goal;

World outlook education was initiated by Cai Yuanpei and regarded as the highest realm of education. Influenced by the dualism of Kant's philosophy, Cai Yuanpei divided the world into two parts: the phenomenal world and the substantive world.

5. Take aesthetic education as a bridge.

Aesthetic education (aesthetic education). Cai Yuanpei can be said to be the first person who advocated aesthetic education in the history of modern education in China. Influenced by Kant's aesthetic thought, he thinks that "aesthetic man is between the phenomenal world and the physical world in terms of beauty and dignity, and Tianjin is the bridge".