ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses art and education, but cases in which artworks in the context of schooling were embroiled in controversy, such as two children's books from the 1980s that portrayed gay homes in positive ways, or Mark Twain's Tom Sawyer, which contains racial terms that have deeply offended some people. It looks more directly at these sorts of concerns. Another significant area in which art is connected to society at large is with respect to social and political values. To repeat, there are various types of nonaesthetic values associated with art, including economic, historical, political, religious, and cultural ones. The chapter argues that the ethical criticism of art is a proper and legitimate aesthetic activity. Music without a text is also subject to ethical criticism if can properly ascribe to the music a presented situation and a prescribed response to it.
