Economics-oriented twentieth-century realism has led to an imbalace in educational terms between science and technolgy on the one hand, and the humanities on the other. This has given rise to many social problems, making educational reform an urgent issue of major importance. In the context of traditional 3Rs education, the proposition that art deserves to be regarded as the fourth R is beyond question, and carries profound potential for the goal of whole-person education. Those involved in art education should therefore take courage, build a consensus, and not only be aware of the role art plays in general education, but also place due importance on the teaching of art appreciation in order to improve art education. Rapid developments in computer science in recent years have had a huge impact on the educational community. Computer assisted instruction can vover the design of the entire teaching process, including the stimulation of study motivation, control of syllabus structure, assistance with teaching content, and the evaluation and follow-up of sutdy results. In addition, the speed and influence of communication via the Internet has certainly transformed the old ways of learning and provided more accurate and effective benchmarks for traditional educational models. With the lively diversity and enormous capacity of computer multimedia in mind, the present study undertakes to explore cross-cultural values in art education through a formal analysis of Chinese and Western aesthetics and painting history. It also applies commputer science to the blending of art with technology through the design and development of concrete, feasible software for teaching art appreciation, as well as well as providing a teaching strategy for aesthetic awareness as a basis for improving the teaching of aesthetic judgment skills. Chinese and Western painting both have their typical realist and impressionisst methods, under the mutual influence of which each has developed diverse painting styles. In terms of training and style, traditional Western painting leans towards realis, fully bearing out Plato's view that "art is the imitation of nature." In Chinese traditional painting since the Sung and Yuan periods, however, the emphasis has been on impressionistic methods, striving to create resonance and mood rather than resmblance, even consciously avoiding all realistic likeness. Bearing witness to this phenomenon is the dictum of Sung literatus Su Tung-p'o that" to discuss painting in terms of verisimilitude is to take an almost childish view." After having compared works of traditional Chiese and Western painting, we can generally deduce a number of interesting conclusions. Artistic content is still, on the whole, dictated by universal features shared by all mankind, such as man and his environment, history, the individual and the group, folk customs, etc. Meanwhile cultural systems developed at various different time perios also constantly prompt that fascinating uniqueness of Chiness and Western traditions, leading to a rich diversity of artistic expression. Artists of east and west have in the course of history laid up a wealth of wisdom for human culure. Paintings of many genres over and over again bear witness to how they "saw" the world and their reaction to it. How to transmit this rich cultural conent to students as part of general education is surely a question that everyone involved in the art education profession must consider in depth.