At The Education Department, Student Artworks Explore Tolerance And Racism

Empathy, tolerance and acceptance: More and more, educators are focusing on the importance of schools' paying attention to stuff other than academics.

And for the past two months, an exhibit at the U.S. Department of Education's headquarters in Washington, D.C., has gathered the work of student artists expressing themselves — through their work — about these issues.

The exhibit is called "Total Tolerance," and it highlights themes of racism, sexism and diversity.

The student art comes from the National YoungArts Foundation, a Miami-based nonprofit that offers mentoring and fellowships to art students from around the country. Their proposal was selected late last year by the Department and the dozens of works of art went on display in May.

"This exhibition, it really exemplifies why we do this work," says Carolina Garcia Jayaram, the foundation's president and CEO. "Together, with the Department of Education, we can signal