5 Benefits of Cultural Diversity in Law School

Cultural diversity is important in a lot of fields and industries, but when it comes to law school, diversity can have a number of benefits that can offer students a unique opportunity to keep more open minds and to be more tolerant. These are the basic tenants of what it takes to become successful in the field of law – no matter what career path you consider taking. Even if you are taking your criminal justice degree online and have telecommunication courses, you might find that cultural diversity in the virtual classroom offers an entire new dimension to the learning process. Here are 5 benefits of cultural diversity in law school.

1. More productive. Law school is analytical – you will be going over cases and legal precedents to make educated guesses about outcomes and probabilities and the likelihood as to whether someone is guilty or innocent. This takes a lot of brainpower. With more diversity in the classroom you will have multiple different viewpoints and perceptions of the world that can vastly change the way you might look at any situation. It can be hard to challenge yourself if you are in a classroom full of people who think just like you.
2. No cultural barriers. Perhaps there is a case where the person is foreign or comes from a different background. Perhaps the case seems unusual to the people who live in a certain community. Maybe the perpetrator committed a crime that seems totally out of the ordinary in one country, but it is just a common social practice in another country. Having more cultural diversity can allow other students to have more or less sympathy when it comes to the accused in a case where the circumstances are unusual or extraordinary. Most cultures can’t accept that another culture has a particular custom until they explain why they have that custom in the first place.
3. Better teachers. If you had a group of teachers – all with the same cultural background – you might not gain any new insights in the field of criminal justice. However, with cultural diversity and more diverse hiring practices for professors, students can have a much wider breadth of knowledge and learn so much more.
4. Social justice. Over the past two decades we have seen an enormous effort to make both commercial businesses and government agencies more diverse by offering equal opportunity employment. In order for a community to feel justly defended, citizens want to feel as though their representatives are as diverse as they are. In order to do this, many graduate schools are committed to ensuring that their student body is adequately diverse and provides ample opportunities for low-income students to achieve success.
5. Crime prevention. A recent study showed that only 2% of convicted felons have at least one parent with a master’s degree. Thus, making higher education accessible to as diverse a population as possible is a sure way to reduce crime and foster a healthier society. If you want to ensure that your children live safe and happy lives, earning your master’s degree in law is one of the best ways you can increase the probability of both your success as well as your child’s.