Balance of Cultural Icons and Meaningful Artwork

As an artist, it is important to know the works of cultural icons, to understand the history of art before us and to learn about art that is being created in the now. I know that the type of environment I wish to have in my classroom is one of appreciation for all kinds of art. I want to display works of cultural icons during certain lessons and have my students learn about the techniques that were used to create the pieces, and I want to discuss with my students what makes a great work of art. At all times I want to have work that my students have created and works of my own displayed in the classroom. I think that if we foster an environment that is geared towards appreciation of all art then it will be easier for us to get our students to create their own meaningful artwork.
In one of my art history lectures, my professor told us that Michelangelo and artists of his time believed that in order to become great, you had to work from the great works of art of those who preceded you. In other words, they literally would copy and recreate works of art. From there, in order to be a great artist, you needed to then create your own style, your own artistic self... and they did. I'm not saying that I am going to encourage students to copy cultural icons' works of art, but I am going to incorporate their pieces into my lessons and have discussions with my students about what they feel makes a "great" work. What I hope to teach my students is that the art created by these cultural icons are great because they are meaningful. I hope to get them in the state of mind to express themselves through their artwork, to deliver a message....whether it be only for themselves or for an audience.
Artwork can be a great outlet for anyone. It allows you to express things that you may not be able to put into words, and I think that for high school students especially, this can be extremely stress relieving. The work created by our students will tell us a lot about them. Artwork can be full of symbolism and personal meaning, and they may include much of their personal life and views into their artwork. The work that our students create may allow us to see how they perceive the world.
If a student wanted to incorporate images that are culturally significant but deemed inapropriate, I would sit down with them privately and explain that in when they are outside of school, they are free to create works of art that incorporate these images, but within the walls of my artroom they must follow school guidelines and my guidelines (no discriminating against race, sexualy orientation, etc).