The unity of opposites of China's aesthetic tradition

Mr. Cai Yuanpei proposed to replace religion with aesthetic education. According to some remarks and phenomena at that time, Mr. Cai pointed out that believing in Christianity or respecting Confucianism did not change people's quality and habits, and pointed out that the three functions of religion were "wisdom, will and emotion". Wisdom was used to explain various problems that people couldn't explain at that time, and it has been solved scientifically today. Will is actually the function of moral education, which is replaced by sociology, ethics, psychology and other disciplines today; Emotion is aesthetic education, which is what we call religious art today. With the development of the times, art gradually divorced from religion, and aesthetic education also became independent, so the original role of religion changed. With science, we will have correct knowledge and morality, and we will establish our own moral outlook. But only the emotional function still exists, and aesthetic education also has the emotional education function, so aesthetic education can completely replace religion. This is the most basic meaning of Mr. Cai that I understand. I guess it may be that Mr. Cai has realized the important role of aesthetic education in a person's life, or that Mr. Cai wants to change the concept of Chinese people in another way, and then change the fate of the nation, because Mr. Cai clearly pointed out that the role of aesthetic education is "enough to judge people's opinions and care about gains and losses", and aesthetic education is utilitarian education, which can get rid of prejudice.

If Mr. Cai's original intention is aimed at schools, I think it should be to hope that aesthetic education can become a compulsory course in all schools, and to teach the general public the common sense of art, instead of setting up a special department to train professionals (of course, Mr. Cai's so-called "aesthetic education" does not only refer to art), because if we want to replace religion with aesthetic education, we must face a wider audience. After all, there are only a few professional artists, and it is definitely not enough to promote them only. In this case, the aesthetic education mentioned by Teacher Cai definitely refers not only to artistic skills, because the aesthetic education mentioned here must appeal to people's hearts, so I understand the aesthetic education mentioned by Teacher Cai here as the ability to understand and perceive art in addition to artistic skills. Now, in layman's terms, it is to prevent people from learning to appreciate and perceive works of art, improve their aesthetic ability, and then improve their overall quality, so that people's minds will not be barren even if they leave religion, and aesthetic education will take its place. Works of art have never existed independently. The works of art in each era are organically integrated into a specific era, which is closely related to the development of politics, economy, social practice and philosophy. Specifically, artistic creation will involve all aspects of the creator. If understood in this way, isn't this the quality education we are carrying out today? But what we have to do today is not enough to express the needs of our times simply by "replacing religion with aesthetic education", because our problems are not only religious, what we need is to broaden students' thinking and cultivate the next generation with innovative ability. At the same time, we need to deepen our understanding of society, history and culture, look at our national culture objectively through our understanding of the excellent cultures of all ethnic groups, and inherit and carry forward the excellent traditions of our national culture, of which art is a part.

Make clear our educational purpose today, and then reinterpret or think about Teacher Cai's proposition! Of course, there is no need to replace "religion" with aesthetic education today, but look at the academic burden faced by our high school students. Isn't this another religion? A new religion with "College Entrance Examination" as its highest belief. This religion needs a better way to implement, which may be one of the purposes of this curriculum reform! I also try to interpret the role of aesthetic education in today's schools with teacher Cai's method!

First, aesthetic education can broaden thinking. According to the new curriculum standards, ordinary high schools with conditions can also offer technical elective courses. Artistic creation has a strong training effect on people's thinking, and artistic thinking needs more open thinking. Teachers can stimulate and exercise students' thinking by guiding them to express their interests. If you want to express your ideas in a visual way and try to be different and innovative, you will inevitably need more thinking and innovation, which will inevitably stimulate students' thinking. For example, if you give students the topic "Show your friends and relatives in your life in the form of painting", students will inevitably think about the choice of topic, composition, color application and even the use of materials, and this thinking process will exercise their thinking ability.

Second, aesthetic education can increase knowledge. The main content of art appreciation class in ordinary senior high schools is art works, which are the materialized form of human culture and organically integrated into the development of human history and civilization. Therefore, learning to appreciate art works is to understand human culture and increase knowledge to a certain extent. For example, we can understand the development and changes of our nation's thoughts and beliefs in that period by appreciating the shapes and ornamentation of bronzes from the Three Dynasties of China to the Qin and Han Dynasties, and we can also understand the rise and fall of European culture and economic development and changes by understanding the evolution of European painting.

Third, aesthetic education can delight the soul. As Mr Cai Yuanpei said, aesthetic education is not utilitarian. People can revel in art, forget themselves and let their hearts fly. Under the heavy academic burden of ordinary high schools, standardizing art classes is undoubtedly an important embodiment of quality education.

Thirdly, aesthetic education can enable students to understand their own culture objectively. Only when a nation has its own culture can it continue to exist and develop. A nation that has lost its cultural tradition cannot be called a nation. We China people have a long history and created our own unique and splendid cultural traditions, which is something to be proud of. Today, with the proliferation of foreign cultures, students can learn about their excellent cultural traditions and compare them with other cultures, so as to treat our national culture objectively.

If the function of education is to make people become "people". Then the function of aesthetic education is to make people become more perfect people. Aesthetic education is very important in shaping perfect personality. This should also be the pursuit of quality education! In this sense, doesn't the core idea of quality education coincide with the core idea of aesthetic education? Is it different from what Mr Cai Yuanpei advocated many years ago? It is time to replace today's "religion" with aesthetic education.

About the author: Guo, female, of Han nationality, born in 1976, native place: Zibo, Shandong Province, professional title: a first-class middle school teacher, and now studying for a master's degree in fine arts education at the Academy of Fine Arts of Capital Normal University.