Ways of Raising the Level of the Esthetic Education of School Pupils

In preparing the Soviet younger generation for life and work in a communist society, great importance is assigned to enrichment of their spiritual culture, their all-round development, and, in particular, their esthetic education. The basic tasks of the last are to teach children to recognize beauty and form their esthetic taste and feelings; to introduce pupils to the best, past and present, works of art; to awaken and develop in them a love of music, painting, and architecture; to inform their general esthetic culture with criteria for the evaluation of beauty on the basis of a general knowledge, experience and esthetic activity; to develop in pupils a need to make esthetics a part of their everyday life; and to develop the individual artistic endowments of each child. Soviet schools, out-of-school institutions, and the family have at their disposal all the necessary conditions and potential for solving these problems.