Student audience gives a very accurate assessment of scientific disciplines, teachers, transformation of the educational process and, of course, social problems today.
Once I discussed the unfortunate realities of modern culture process (impairment artistic tastes, primitivism of contemporary art, etc.) with students and heard a joke:
"The young man asks his friend:
- Hey, don’t you know who the Mozart and Chopin are?
His esthete fellow replied him:
- For crying out loud! They are those guys who write music for mobiles. "
Of course, it is just a joke, but it disguises the unfortunate truth. After all, something, which previously was considered as an elementary knowledge of art, now is unknown for the majority. It is often heard that art exists to cause excitement and perform purely entertainment and hedonistic function.
In my opinion, it is a terrible misconception. You should combine sense and reason to contribute to the diversity of treasures contained in art. It is not enough only to see the work of Salvador Dali to evaluate them, you should understand and feel. It is not transmitted "genetically". It is the result of aesthetic education. It has always determined the level of cultural development of society: every historical era created its inherent aesthetic education model that shaped the tastes of the younger generation.
The distinctive traditions of education of the senses, forming abilities of comprehension of art developed in the KPI. Art and Culture Center stands as the aesthetic education center and disclosure of diverse artistic abilities of students.
The art gallery at the ACC instills the aesthetic sense in the future technological elite of Ukraine. Psychologists say that the visual image encourages creative and scientific activities. Various presentations, the annual exhibition-contest "Talents of the KPI" are an excellent practice of aesthetic education. These events are extremely necessary for generation unity as respected professors, assistants and young, gifted students participate.
There is its own art gallery at the Faculty of Sociology, which presented the works of the folk artists of Ukraine, and teachers and students of different faculties of NTUU "KPI". The gallery is daily opened, and students can relax during breaks, admiring the artwork, which creates original atmosphere. I think student poetry collections appeared because of such atmosphere.
Aesthetic education is closely intertwined with ethical, so the campaign "Give a moment of joy" started here, in which toys and books for children living in orphanages were gathered.
Effective forms of aesthetic education were chamber music concerts, held in the Hall of the Academic Council on the initiative of Vice-Rector for Educational Work G.B. Varlamov. Some of the students have never heard classical music performed by professional musicians, and it was a real discovery, because they simply did not perceive such kind of music before. I think that the combination of the atmosphere of the hall of the Academic Council and the sound of classical music helped students to understand that there are incorporated national traditions of certain nation and the possibility of multiple reading in nature art at the same time.
It is not enough only to enjoy the art to understand it, it requires some knowledge. Therefore it is difficult to understand trends in reforming curricula, such as the rejection of theoretical courses of ethics, aesthetics or the debate over the culture and the history. In my opinion, we must reform the system of the teaching of science. It is necessary to introduce copyright elective courses for students, spend more hands-on seminars, designed for an audience of 20-30 people, where teachers could reveal problems that students are interested in.
The extract culture from curriculum leads to a decrease of creative possibilities, because the harmony of the combination of feelings and reasons is destroyed, rejected the need for education of the senses as social and cultural norms, which always mark the elite of society. Moreover, students (especially first-year students) get a psychological discharge studying the aesthetic and cultural objects.
Formation of information society demonstrates unprecedented social changes represented in new forms, criteria and culture. That is why the role of culture as a means of social adaptation of personality that determines the type of society, its system of norms, values and regulations, the nature and methods of extraction and use of natural science and spiritual and metaphysical knowledge significantly updates at the beginning of the new millennium. Culture contributes significantly to the explanation of the interaction between technological, social, spiritual and cultural spheres.
The new era of information society assigns a special role for culture. It is to create an ideological picture filled with new meaning. Its condition will be an alloy of science and art, where science is a means, and art is the purpose of social and cultural development of mankind. Therefore aesthetic education has become an integral part of the educational process, especially today, when there is essential transformation of higher education in Ukraine.
Nov 14, 2006 || Author: I.І. Fedorova, the Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Sociology and Law, professor.