More schools are including art displays

From The New York Times: A growing number of newly built or renovated public schools across the country look more like cultural centers than the austere, utilitarian houses of learning of the past, displaying museum-worthy pieces commissioned from artists alongside more traditional finger paintings and statues of school mascots. New Haven, Conn., has emerged at the forefront of a movement to build schools that are aesthetically pleasing as well as functional, and to turn plain brick-and-mortar walls into show-and-tell lessons. Educators and architects say that these new schools challenge notions dating back to the 1950s of school buildings as no-frills projects completed as quickly and cheaply as possible.