“In education, it is vitally important to encourage young, curious minds to have confidence in their own perceptions…”

As a former long time high school teacher, I couldn’t disagree with you more. If you are actually teaching a youngster, you should constantly be challenging those perceptions, which are usually informed by ignorance, laziness, and a desire to fit in. Kids already think they know it all, and their response to a piece of art that they can’t fully wrap their heads around is usually that “It’s stupid.” They need to be taught that there are many ways to look at anything, and that their perception is just one of those many.