18. Discuss the text in pairs. One partner will take the optimistic view and insist that popular arts should be included in the art curriculum. The other will defend the opposite point of view.

Consider the following:

For:	Against:
1. The differences between popular and fine art are often matters of classification.	1. Fine arts in each epoch supplied the models from which the rules and principles were derived.
2. Popular art facilitates the aesthetic experience and therefore is appropriate for study in the field of art education.	2. Fine arts are more noble, more worthy than all the other opportunities available for visual aesthetic experience around us.
3. The content of the popular arts is of relevance to the students and, through art criticism, can lead to a more penetrating analysis of these and other art forms.	3. Tastes should be developed through images of high artistic culture, whereas works of popular culture as a rule meet consumer's tastes.
4. The popular arts allow students to talk about emotionally meaningful experiences.	4. Excellent or fine art is better than poor art for providing students with a strong personal and cultural awareness.
5. They can aid the student's understanding of his culture as well as the cultures of other peoples.	5. A lot of popular art is debased and meretricious.
6. Once the teacher is able to establish a trusting relationship and a rapport with his students, the students might be more responsive to the forms of art which the teacher wishes to introduce.	6. We have no right to "condemn" students to the easily comprehensible forms of popular art. Any student can develop an appreciation of the fine arts.
	7. The habit of looking at good pictures is in itself a means by which taste can be formed.

Part 2

texts on art

I

Unit 19

TEXT

Harappan artisans are among the first to combine words and images

Cities sprang up along the Indus Valley in India and Pakistan beginning around 3000 bce. Distinctive seals produced there are some of the most sophisticated of the world's early works of art.

The achievements of the Indus Valley civilization are as mysterious as they are impressive. First discovered less than a hundred years ago, they seemed to be the stuff of legend because many archaeologists doubted that there were actual civilizations dating back that far in this area. Then in the 1920s, excavations revealed a huge, sprawling network of cities, stretching across present-day India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. It became clear that these settlements were highly organized and that their inhabitants had developed to a level of sophistication that included their own form of writing. Scripts discovered there remain one of the great mysteries of the ancient world since no one has been able to decipher their meaning. Debate still rages over why, and how, this civilization suddenly disappeared.

The twin capitals were Harappa, in the Indian Punjab, and Mohenjo Daro, on the west bank of the Indus River in Pakistan. Excavations of Mohenjo Daro show evidence of urban planning, including the earliest known example of a grid street plan. The rectangular houses enclosed a central courtyard, and the broad avenues of the city contained elaborate drainage systems. The settlement was dominated by a large citadel, which encircled the main public buildings, an assembly hall, a sizeable granary, and a great bath that was probably used for rituals. Most surprising to archaeologists are the things that were not found—no magnificent temple, no grand palace, nor any evidence of military activity.

It seems that the citizens of these early cities led peaceful, well-ordered lives, based around agriculture and trade. In fact, trading prompted the cities to produce their most notable artworks—small stamp seals made out of steatite (a

1 Seal

Artist unknown, c. 2300-1750 BCE