The "Cai Yuanpei Art Education Fund" Humanities and Art Education Lecture Hall of Peking University has opened in Shanghai, targeting middle school backbone teachers and deans | Ministry of Education | Art Education
"There is also beauty in mathematics, such as symmetrical structures. In the future, in mathematics teaching, besides imparting knowledge, it will be very interesting to bring students to experience the beauty of mathematics." On July 17th, Liu Shenghe, a young mathematics teacher from the Second Affiliated Middle School of China Normal University, couldn't help but express such feelings after listening to the lecture "Aesthetics and a Better Life" brought by Professor Peng Feng, Dean of the School of Art at Peking University and Vice President of the International Aesthetics Association.
This is just a lecture from the first training class of backbone teachers in the Humanities and Art Education Lecture Hall of the Cai Yuanpei Art Education Fund at Peking University. The two-day training class consisted of 5 special presentations, attracting nearly 100 teachers from Shanghai High School, East China Normal University Second Affiliated Middle School, Fudan University Affiliated Middle School, Shanghai Experimental School, and Nanyang Model Middle School.
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"The teachers attending this lecture are not limited to the field of aesthetic education, but almost cover all high school subjects. Even many teachers who teach mathematics, physics, and chemistry have developed a strong interest in this lecture." Yu Jie, Director of the Project Department of Peking University Education Foundation and Deputy Leader of Peking University Shanghai Admissions Group, introduced that the "Cai Yuanpei Aesthetic Education Fund", as Peking University's first fund project with "aesthetic education" as its characteristic, was established by Yang Wenbin, an alumnus of Peking University, with a donation in 2022 to promote the construction of aesthetic education faculty. This training class aims to promote the connection and exchange between Peking University and secondary education, in order to expand the influence of Cai Yuanpei's aesthetic education ideas.
The opening report is "Aesthetics and a Better Life" presented by Professor Peng Feng, Dean of the School of Arts at Peking University, Vice President of the International Aesthetics Association, and Changjiang Scholar from the Ministry of Education. Professor Peng discussed the definition of aesthetics and the different directions of aesthetic research from the perspective of aesthetic theory. He defined the concept of beauty and the various elements that influence aesthetic judgment. Among them, after discussing the different foundations and ultimate pursuits of aesthetics in the East and the West, the definition of beauty is introduced - "Beauty lies in proportion, beauty also lies in harmony or diversity, and beauty lies in utility or appropriateness.". Professor Peng summarized the three elements of a good life as aesthetic creation, aesthetic empathy, and aesthetic pleasure. "The whole lecture was very down-to-earth, explaining the trend and conditions of aestheticization in daily life through the comparison of things and people around us, and subdividing it into multi-dimensional aesthetics such as economy, society, politics, and law." A teacher from Shanghai Middle School said in the venue.
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The theme report "A Perfect Life of Man and Art", presented by Ning Xiaomeng, Vice Professor of the Department of Philosophy at Peking University, Director of the Aesthetics Teaching and Research Office, Researcher and Deputy Director of the Aesthetics and Aesthetic Education Research Center at Peking University, focuses on exploring the origin and destination of aesthetic education from the philosophical foundation of aesthetic theory. Professor Ning first conducted a detailed analysis of the relevant texts of Mr. Cai Yuanpei's aesthetic education thoughts, pointing out that Mr. Cai's understanding of aesthetic education has a historical trend of detachment from religion and even replacing religion. This is also the reason why he emphasized the importance of aesthetic education. In order to understand the philosophical foundation of Cai Yuanpei's theory of aesthetic education, Professor Ning specifically traced back to Kant's aesthetics and Schiller's theory of aesthetic education. Starting from the practical significance of aesthetic education, Professor Ning shared the different understandings of the characteristics of aesthetic education by Cai Yuanpei and Zhu Guangqian, and introduced different plans proposed by senior scholars for the promotion and implementation of aesthetic education.
Professor Ning summarized that the goal of aesthetic education is to develop a complete human nature and achieve an artistic life. "It can be said that art education is an education without right or wrong, without scores," Fan Yilin, an art education teacher from Nanyang Model, deeply agrees with this viewpoint. She told reporters that Nanyang Model's art education classes have always been very popular among students, not only imparting aesthetic knowledge, but also leading them to experience beauty in daily life such as speech etiquette and interpersonal relationships.
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