“What does social reform and democracy mean, if great art is withheld from the populace? The ancien regime that confined the artistic canon to a prosperous few has no place in our culture. Nothing could be more patronising than to decide for our young people that some art is ‘too highbrow’ for them, perhaps because of their ethnic background or an unpromising urban environment. The idea that the western artistic canon is not ‘relevant’ in today’s multicultural classroom need only be reversed to be exposed as ridiculous. Imagine decreeing that a class of white teenagers cannot relate to West African drumming.”