Dive Brief:
- Professor Steve Herbert, director of the University of Washington’s Law, Societies & Justice program, recently wrapped up his third mixed-enrollment class that brought fourth-year students together with nearby prison inmates for a course on culture, crime, and criminal justice.
- UW Today reports the inmates, serving time at the Monroe Correctional Complex northeast of Seattle, have contributed valuable experience to class discussions, giving students the opportunity to hear the real-life impact of certain policies.
- UW’s traditional students have responded positively to an eye-opening experience where prisoners are humanized as dedicated, insightful students, and the prisoners get critical thinking and communication skills in coursework that heavily reduces their chances of recidivism.
Dive Insight:
Colleges and universities have always sought to offer their students diverse learning experiences off campus, expanding their worldview beyond sometimes homogenous environments. Study abroad lets students encounter new cultures and languages, while new partnerships, like the one between Lynn University and General Assembly, are getting students off campus to learn a coding skillset that may help their future careers. The experience of study abroad is so important to one group of minority-serving institutions that they have banded together to increase the proportion of their Latino, Asian, and black students who are underrepresented in the current study abroad numbers.
The University of Washington’s program is one more way to open the eyes of students, giving them insights from corners of society they may not otherwise encounter.