They all seem wealthy. There are no obvious racial differences. Students, young ones in particular, usually surprise me with the acuity of their insights. Although middle-school students are limited by their vocabulary, their observations are frequently as sharp as those of college students. The leap from critical discussions of advertisements to fine art is not very great.
Aesthetic issues come up in discussions of ads.
The important thing I try to remember as the teacher is to be a facilitator and not a lecturer. When I engage people in criticism, I hope to elicit a good conversation about art in which students listen to each other and take each other's insights about images seriously. Dr. Terry Barrett, the Education Institute's visiting scholar for the academic year 1995-1996, is professor of Art Education at Ohio State University where he teaches and writes in the discipline of art criticism. He is the author of numerous articles and reviews and has contributed to books on art education and criticism. As well as writing art criticism, he has served as an editor of several publications.