Cai Yuanpei is a famous democratic revolutionist, thinker and educator in modern China, and an advocate and founder of modern aesthetic education in China. Aesthetics, as an independent science, was introduced from the west after the Opium War. Liang Qichao, Wang Guowei, Lu Xun and others have all studied this subject, but it is Cai Yuanpei who really studies and introduces aesthetics systematically. He was the "only backbone figure" who advocated aesthetic education in the history of modern education in China, and played a pioneering and foundation role in the establishment and development of modern aesthetics in China. 19 12, Cai Yuanpei became the education chief of Nanjing Provisional Government, and incorporated aesthetic education into the education policy, and published the Opinions on Education Policy, proposing to educate students to develop morally, physically, intellectually and aesthetically. He is the author of Theory of Replacing Religion with Aesthetic Education, Don't Forget Aesthetic Education in Cultural Movement, Origin of Art, Evolution of Art, Implementation Method of Aesthetic Education, and Aesthetic Education in China in Twenty-five Years, which has made outstanding contributions to the dissemination and organization of aesthetic education.
1 the function of aesthetic education
Cai Yuanpei called aesthetic education aesthetic education. He was the first person in China to apply aesthetic theory to education and an active advocate of aesthetic education. He believes that aesthetic education plays an important role in improving the quality of the people.
1. 1 cultivate sentiment
19 17 On April 8th, Cai Yuanpei delivered a speech on "Replacing Religion with Aesthetic Education" in Beijing Shenzhou Society, which was published in the 6th issue of New Youth Volume 3 (19 17 was published on August 6th). He pointed out that in order to avoid "the disadvantages of stimulating feelings, and cultivate feelings exclusively, it is better to replace religion with pure aesthetic education." "Pure aesthetic education, so pottery cultivates our feelings, makes us have noble and pure habits, makes people think of themselves and others, and gradually eliminates people who are in love." 1 93865438+1October1day, Cai Yuanpei published "My Experience of Education" in the 56th issue of Cosmic Wind, which mentioned: "Aesthetic education was put forward because aesthetic feeling is universal and can break the prejudice between people; Aesthetic feeling is transcendental, which can break the consideration of life and death interests and should be paid special attention to in education. " In other words, he believes that aesthetic education can make people get rid of the reality of separation, combination, birth and death, disaster and injury, and the resulting emotions such as joy, anger, sorrow, joy and fear, so as to achieve the purpose of cultivating temperament and improving sentiment.
1.2 Promote cultural progress
Cai Yuanpei put forward that "music is one of the fine arts" in his speech at Peking University Music Research Association, which is closely related to the evolution of culture. In order to promote culture, all countries in the world attach equal importance to science and art. ..... I hope to meet you, know that music is a sharp weapon to promote culture, study noble music theory together, cultivate talents who can create new music, adopt the advantages of western music, make up for the shortcomings of China music, and make it keep pace with the times.
In the article "Don't forget aesthetic education in the cultural movement", he added: "Since citizens with cultural progress practice science education, they should still popularize art education."
Art here is a general term for art, and Cai Yuanpei once mentioned in The Origin of Art that "art can be divided into narrow sense and broad sense. In a narrow sense, it refers to architecture, sculpture, pictures and arts and crafts (including decorations, etc. ). In a broad sense, it includes literature, music and dance. In addition to the various fine arts listed above. He also said in the Evolution of Art that "there are two kinds of art: static art, such as architecture, sculpture and pictures." The position of the occupied space is visible. Moving art, such as lyrics, music, etc. With time continuity, listen with your ears. In between is dance, which occupies a spatial position similar to a picture; Time continuity, similar to music. "
1.3 Training innovative talents
Cai Yuanpei believes that aesthetic education can cultivate a world view beyond reality. With this world outlook, people have the spirit of being creative, that is to say, aesthetic education plays an important role in cultivating innovative talents. Cai Yuanpei: The Relationship between Art and Science
The article points out: "With this mechanical outlook on life and world, you are not only not interested in yourself, but also have no love for society, even for the science you rule. You just follow the trend and never have the spirit of creation ... To prevent this abuse, you need to cultivate feelings in addition to knowledge, that is, you should pay equal attention to science and art. Interest in art not only makes me feel that life is meaningful and valuable, but also makes me feel that life is meaningful and valuable. Please have a try. "
2 the implementation method of aesthetic education
Cai Yuanpei once put forward that the implementation method of aesthetic education should be carried out from three aspects: family education, school education and social education. Through the cooperation of these three aspects, the implementation and popularization of aesthetic education can be comprehensively promoted, thus improving the aesthetic psychological quality and spiritual and cultural pursuit of the whole nation.
Regarding the implementation of school education, he believes that in addition to sending professionals to specialized art schools, ordinary schools can offer various art courses, and other disciplines can also carry out aesthetic education. Campus environment can edify people with beauty, and various campus cultural activities can also be used to popularize aesthetic education.
He said: "the exclusive courses of aesthetic education include music, pictures, sports, literature, etc ... but the scope of aesthetic education is not limited to these subjects, and all the courses in the school have nothing to do with aesthetic education." Mathematics, for example, looks boring; But the proportion and rhythm in art are related to loss, and the golden cutting technique is the most obvious example. Mathematical games can cause interesting aesthetic feeling ... there is a theory of' emotional empathy' in aesthetics, and all art forms are used to explain it. Literature, music and pictures all have strange feelings of hot and cold, which can be associated with heat ... but the architectural style and exhibits of each school must meet the requirements of reputation. Debates, concerts, exhibitions and various commemorative meetings can be held. From time to time, and you can take advantage of his popular aesthetic education. "
Mr. Cai Yuanpei said: "Educators are not for the past, not for the present, but for the future." With the rapid development of basic education in primary and secondary schools in China, aesthetic education has become an important part of cultivating all-round talents. In some areas, aesthetic education courses such as music and art have been included in the senior high school entrance examination subjects. We review Cai Yuanpei's aesthetic education thought and feel the value of his aesthetic education thought more and more.