My Hero Academiaaka Boku No Hero Academiahas been a massive hit with the fans. It is an example of a classic shonen series and thus far it has entertained with its likable characters, great artwork and intriguing story arcs. One of the most fascinating story arcs in the show is the 'Shie Hassaikai' arc which literally translates to the 'Eight Precepts of Death'.

In order to get Season 4 started, fans need to know who the villain Kai Chisaki of the 'Eight Precepts of Death' and his teammates are. For starters, he heads the Shie Hassaikai Yakuza crime family. He has been catapulted as the biggest antagonist of Season 4.

Here are the top ten facts about Shie Hassaikai.

RELATED:My Hero Academia: 10 Things You Didn't Know About Overhaul

Shie Hassaikai is the branch of Yakuza in My Hero Academiaworld. They are the chief antagonists of the Internships Arc. The Shie Hassaikai consists of eight members who are lead byKai Chisaki, villain name 'Overhaul'. They are the main antagonists of Season 4 of My Hero Academia. After their head became bedridden, Overhaul stepped into his shoes and took control of the Shie Hassaikai.

The Shie Hassaikai aren't the only but the remnants of the Yakuza or Japanese mafia. Along with numerous fractions, they used to control the underworld of Japan. As the hero society rose, Yakuza's power was nullified. They were rendered helpless in wake of Heroes such as All Might. Hence their ideology is committing themselves to the doom of the Hero Society.Yakuza follows a strict code of conduct for the order of business.

The 'Eight Precepts' is a direct reference to Buddhism and its eight founding principles. The Eight guidelines laid down in Buddhism are meant to be strictly followed by Buddhists throughout their lifespan. Lord Buddha prescribed an Eight-fold path for ethical living.

RELATED: My Hero Academia: 5 Times Deku Deserved To Be The Next Symbol Of Peace (& 5 Times He Didn't)

However, in the Shie Hassaikai arc, the members constantly disobey these eight precepts. Shie Hassaikai bases itself on the corruption of Buddhism, more importantly, these eight precepts.

Due to the fall of the Yakuza order, the Shie Hassaikai possesses limited to scant resources. Hence they are known to be a small gang of criminals. As a result, Overhaul, the leader has a pretty lenient recruitment process. He takes in his wing anyone and everyone willing to serve him. This includes thugs and scums with no impressive records, therefore, most of Shie Hassaikai consists of unimpressive thugs.

Not much is known about the Boss, other than the fact that he ran Shie Hassaikai prior to Kai Chisaki. He took Kai under his wing and raised him to be a fierce Shie Hassaikai leader. The Boss firmly believed in Yakuza's strict code of ethics, such as their chivalry. According to him, this is what distinguished Shie Hassaikai from other thugs and villains. He tried to form a level playing field, a way in which villains could survive in the current world. However, Kai Chisaki chose to absolute disobey the Boss in this regard.

Before being inducted into the Shie Hassaikai family, he was living on the streets. As the Crime family took him under his wing, he slowly blossomed into a ruthless villain. Kai is committed to bringing back the lost glory of the Shie Hassaikai family.

RELATED: My Hero Academia: The 10 Best Melee Student and Heroes, Ranked

Along with that, his other obsessions and commitments are to return the world to the way it was before the Quirk phenomenon.

Hari Kurono is the next to Chisaki. He is his assistant and his Quirk 'Chronostasis'. His hair is always hidden under his mask. If Hari stays put, his hair extends, pierces, and slows down time for his enemy.

The General manager is Joi Irinaka who is codenamed 'Mimic'. He's deeply committed to gaining control of society and make Yakuza the single greatest power. His Quirk is mimic. It lets him warp himself into objects and control them. His tiny size, however, is a constant detriment.

The squad consists of members of the 'Eight Precepts of Death' called the Eight Expendables. Each of these is madly devoted to Kai Chisaki. The first one is Shin Nemoto who possesses the Quirk of 'Confession' which lets people confess things to him. After him comes Rikiya Katsukame, a muscular man who possesses the 'Vitality Stealing' Quirk. Rikiya can steal the stamina of literally anyone by touching them.

Deidoro Sakaki with the Quirk 'Sloshed' causes people to trip and lose their balance. Toya Setsuno, is the next member, part of a three-member team within the Expendables. His Quirk is 'Larceny' that lets him teleport things from people into his hand.

Yu Hojo possesses the Quirk 'Crystallization'. He can protrude crystals from his body that can be used in any physical combat. Soramitsu Tabe follows next, who possesses the Quirk 'Food'. It means that he can eat anything, from any indigestible material to his enemy!

Kendo Rappais next, who possesses the Quirk 'Strongarm', that gives his shoulders extreme agility. As a result, Kendo is an ace punching man. He is followed by Hekiji Tengai who possesses the Quirk 'Barrier', and his mind can create a strong line of defense barrier with this Quirk.

The Quirk is a superhuman ability that a being can possess. Starting with a newborn in the city of Qingqing, the phenomenon spread far and wide. Each individual possesses a specific ability, so to say, Quirk.

Not only does Kai look down upon Quirks, he firmly believes in the old theory that they come from rats. Quirks in Kai's opinion have plagued humanity, so he wants to exterminate them from the world. He believes that their so-called heroic sacrifices are a sickness termed "Hero Syndrome".

Beset with the singular goal of being 'Leader of the Underworld", Overhaul believes in the total extermination of the Quirks. In his opinion, once the Earth is rid of them, the Yakuza can reclaim their lost power. The original leader of the Shie Hassaikai was a man named the 'Boss'. Ever sinceKaiwas picked up from the streets and nurtured by Shie Hassaikai, Kai feels indebted to the Boss.

Now that the mantle of Shie Hassaikai has passed on to Kai Chisaki, he is committed to exterminating the Quirks because they ruined the Boss's life.

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My Hero Academia: 10 Things You Need To Know About The Shie Hassaikai - CBR - Comic Book Resources

The Jew In The Ashram"

When a young woman travels from New York City to an ashram in India to overcome her struggles with mental health, a cheerful gurus lessons provoke reflections on prayer, Jewish summer camp, and the role of Judaism in the lives of her late father and his biological mother, a Holocaust survivor he never met. At select moments, the audience is invited to move, chant, and reflect on their own spiritual journeys and identitiesthe ones we inherit and the ones we make for ourselves. A funny, poignant, lightly interactive solo show about spiritual healing and identity. Written and performed by Amanda Erin Miller. Directed by Rachel Evans.

Devastating, hilarious, comfortably interactive and piercingly real. -Sarah Sokolic, Executive Director, Lab/Shul

Amanda Miller is a gem of a storyteller. Fringe Review

Amanda Erin Miller (Writer, Performer) is an NYC-based writer, actor and Jewish educator. She has performed The Jew in the Ashram in a variety of settings including Temple Beth Shalom of Hastings, NY; The Kings Bay Y in Brooklyn, NY; Brandeis Collegiate Institute in Simi Valley, CA; Minnesota and Charm City Fringe Festivals, yoga studios and more. In 2013, her memoir "was published on Lucid River Press. Since 2010, Amanda has been combining theater arts, yoga and Jewish education in her work with synagogues and camps including Lab/Shul, Kolot Chayeinu, Temple Emanu-El, Union Temple and Sprout Brooklyn. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from The New School and a BFA in Acting from NYU.

Rachel Evans (Director) is a theatre maker, drama teacher and Jewish educator. She has acted Off Broadway and regionally with various theatre companies, including Irondale Theatre and Mirror Repertory Company. Her one-woman show, Jew Wish, debuted in the NY Fringe Festival and subsequently was performed at Eldridge Street Synagogue. She has taught and performed at Kolot Chayeinu, Lab/Shul, PJ Library and JCC Harlem. She has collaborated with Amanda Miller on sketch comedy, Purim spiels, and theater for social change, and is excited to be tackling this exciting and important show. She holds an MA in Applied Theatre from CUNY and a BA in English and Theatre from Tufts.

**** For information on Los Angeles theatre, tickets to theatre in North Hollywood's NoHo Arts District, theatre reviews, the NoHo Event Calendar, restaurants, news and local businesses in NoHo, or anything and everything about the NoHo Arts Community, bookmark nohoartsdistrict.com. Follow us on Twitter @OfficialNoHo. On Instagram@NoHoArtsDistrict and Facebook @NoHoArtsDistrict.

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The Jew In The Ashram - noho arts district

An Indian fugitive holy man accused of rape and other crimes has announced he has set up his own country and will run its economy with cryptocurrency.

Nithyananda, from Tamil Nadu, attracted followers in a spiritual centre known as an ashram he opened in Bengaluru during 2005, but cops claimed he raped and assaulted a woman at the ashram under the guise of giving her religious teachings.

Officers also allege the 41-year-old beat children and forced them to earn money for the ashram.

He fled India and has now declared a Hindu sovereign nation called Kailaasa after buying his own island off the coast of Ecuador, reports the Times of India.

A website has been registered in Panama with its IP located in the US state of Dallas. However, mystery surrounds Kailaasas exact location.

As well as a flag, constitution, and emblem, the website says the nation will have its own economy that is not contaminated by fiat currency.

Kailaasa is off the coast of Ecuador but its exact location is a mystery

It adds: Imagine that this currency is the only one accepted in the Paramashiva economy to participate in the Dharmic economy, one that is aligned with the cosmic laws, one that will give them enormous spiritual rewards and multiple returns on investment, people have to use this currency.

An ideal way to create such a currency is through cryptocurrency.

In February, a private city in Norway ditched cash for its own cryptocurrency.

Liberstad, which was established in June 2017 in the south of the Scandinavian country, is a self-proclaimed libertarian city.

A spokesman said: City Coin is a secure and innovative cryptocurrency based on City Chain, a smart city platform that enables the design, implementation, and use of next-generation services for smart cities and their inhabitants.

The post Wanted holy man to use crypto to run new island nation appeared first on Coin Rivet.

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Wanted holy man to use crypto to run new island nation - Yahoo Finance

By Express News Service

NEW DELHI:In order to ease traffic congestion in one of the major bottlenecks in the city, the Delhi government has approved the extension of Ashram flyover. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday announced the decision to extend the flyover up to the DND flyway.

According to the CM, the extension of the flyover will fulfil a threefold objective eradicate the narrow stretch and the choke-point between the Ashram-DND Flyway, decrease the travel time between Noida and Ashram, and decongest the Ashram flyover which is one of the busiest roads in the city, especially during peak traffic hours.

Briefing the media on the extension plan, the chief minister said, The Ashram flyover is congested during peak hours and the Ashram- DND stretch is heavily jammed. To combat this issue, a proposal has been passed by the PWD to extend the Ashram flyover up to DND Flyway. The extension project will be completed within a span of one year and the total expenditure of the project is Rs 128 crore.The decision has been taken to decongest the Ashram Crossing and nearby areas.

A rotary and pedestrian subway is going to be constructed under the flyover to join Kikroli and Maharani Bagh stretches, Kejriwal said. Construction of a subway on the existing Ashram flyover is also underway, a PWD official said.

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CM Arvind Kejriwal announces Ashram flyover extension to end traffic woes - The New Indian Express

What do you do when youve been charged on counts like kidnapping children and keeping them in confinement, rape and sexual assault? Run away from the country and start your own nation, of course!

At least thats what the plan was for one controversial Indian self-proclaimed godman named Nithyananda, who among other things, is also known for his bullshit pseudoscientific teachings. The man from Tamil Nadu, who gained followers after he started an ashram in Bengaluru in 2005, provided a kind of enlightenment that has made many compare his teachings to that of Osho: yet another controversial spiritual leader that you probably last spotted raging about hard drugs and sex in the Wild, Wild Country.

However, in 2010, after a sex tape of Nithyananda and a famous actress came to surface, so did many other allegations which basically said he was a sexual predator. Charged with raping and assaulting a woman at his ashram under the guise of giving her spiritual teachings, as well as picking up children, beating them up and forcing them to earn money for the ashram, the police booked him for abduction, wrongful confinement, voluntarily causing hurt, intentional insult to provoke breach of peace and criminal intimidation as well as other charges under the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act. However, Nithyananda fled the country last year as soon as these charges were laid against him and has been absconding for over a year. But even as the Gujarat police are trying to get to him, the godman released a video on his YouTube channel on Tuesday, delivering a sermon that authorities traced back to the islands of Trinidad and Tobago.

Turns out, instead of doing jail-time and trying to make amends for his heinous crimes, this rape-accused fugitive has instead bought his own island off the coast of Ecuador, which is being projected as Kailaasa, a brand new Hindu nation. This new nation even has its own website and claims to have a dedicated flag, passport, emblem and even a separate currency which will expand into a cryptocurrency. Describing it as a nation without borders created by dispossessed Hindus around the world who lost the right to practice Hinduism authentically in their own countries, this Hindu nation is built on a temple ecosystem, teaches things like the science behind the third eye, runs on a Gurukul schooling system and even offers free food, education and healthcare to all devotees wanting to join the mission. Theres just one small problem with this projected Hindu Utopia: no one can seem to figure out where its actually located, making it all the harder for authorities in Karnataka and Gujarat to track the absconding godman. The closest they have come after tracking the websites IP address is that it was registered in Panama and can be traced back to the city of Dallas in the US.

While police have been puzzled as to how Nithyananda fled the nation since his passport expired a year ago in November 2018, turns out the nation of Kailaasa has its very own passport, one that features the fraudulent man along with Nandi, the holy cow used as a vehicle by the Hindu god Shiva.

Still, its all pretty shady since no one, especially not a fugitive with serious charges, can just run off and start their own nation. Other countries have to accept it as a nation and the United Nations too has to recognise it. It is not like going to Gurugram, buying a piece of land and declaring it as a nation, sources from the Ministry of External Affairs told The New Indian Express, adding that the ministry was not taking it seriously.

This is especially scary when you think about other such similar concepts that spiritual leaders convicted of criminal charges like Osho or Jim Jones tried to do, including mass murder attempts. But even as the criminal godman remains at large, the Gujarat court rejected the bail plea of two of Nithyanandas aides who were arrested along with him.

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Rape-Accused Godman Nithyananda Fled India, Bought an Island and Has Now Started His Own Hindu Nation - VICE

The Allahabad High Court on Wednesday granted bail to the law student charged with trying to extort money from Swami Chinmayanand, the BJP leader whom she has accused of rape and aasault. Chinmayanand, whose trust runs the Shahjahanpur law college where the woman studied, was arrested under section 376-C of the IPC. In a related case, the 23-year-old woman and her three friends were booked on Chinmayanands complaint that they had demanded Rs five crore from him. He alleged that they had threatened to make video clips public that showed him getting massages from the student. The bail comes after a span of two months after she had been arrested on charges of extortion.

The case came out in the public when the student went missing on August 24, after putting up a Facebook post without naming the politician. Chinmayanand is currently lodged at the Shahjahanpur jail. Here are the major developments in the case till now:

Sept 25: Law student, who accused Chinmayanand of rape, arrested on extortion charges and sent to 14-day judicial custody.

Sept 24: The woman filed an interim bail plea in a local court seeking protection from arrest over extortion charges.

Sept 21: The student and her three friends booked by the SIT for allegedly trying to extort money worth Rs 5 crore from Chinmayanand.

Sept 20: SIT arrests Chinmayanand from his ashram and sends him to jail under 14-day judicial custody.

Sept 16: Complainant records statement in front of judicial magistrate Geetika Singh. Chinmayanand falls ill, suffers from diarrhoea.

Sept 14: Law students father hands over a pen drive having 43 video clips of Chinmayanand to the SIT.

Sep 10: A video purportedly showing Chinmayanand and a girl in the middle of a massage session goes viral. On the same day, a video of a group of men in a car, with the law student in the back seat, talking about an 'extortion message' surfaces.

Sept 5: Law student files a 12-page rape complaint at Lodhi Road police station in Delhi which was later handed over to the SIT in UP on September 7.

Sept 4: Chinmayanand calls allegations against him a 'conspiracy' to defame his educational institutions.

Sept 3: UP DGP sets up SIT under IG Naveen Arora after receiving instructions from UP chief secretary Rajendra Kumar Tiwari.

Sept 2: Supreme Court directs UP government to set up SIT headed by IG-rank officer to look into the charges against Swami Chinmayanand levelled by the law student. Court urges Allahabad HC Chief Justice to constitute a bench for monitoring the investigation in the two FIRs lodged in the matter.

Aug 30: The law student is found by UP police near Mehandipur Balaji temple in Dausa (Rajasthan) along with her friend Sanjay Singh. Supreme Court takes suo motu notice. The woman is produced in the apex court.

Aug 27: District police register FIR against Chinmayanand under sections 364 (kidnapping or abducting in order to murder) and 506 (criminal intimidation)

Aug 25: Law student vanishes; her father approaches Shahjahanpur police and files a complaint of abduction and sexual harassment against Swami Chinmayanand. Chinmayanands lawyer OM Singh lodges FIR in extortion case.

Aug 24: The 23-year-old law student of SS Law College run by Mumukshu Ashram of Swami Chinmayanand posts a video on her Facebook wall alleging harassment and sexual abuse by the former Union Minister.

(With inputs from PTI and TNIE)

Continued here:

A timeline of the Chinmayanand case: How the law student and former minister's saga unfolded - EdexLive

By: Express News Service | Ahmedabad | Updated: December 5, 2019 9:33:38 am The governments decision came after several rounds of meetings between Education Minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama, CM Rupani, senior officials of the education department, CBSE officials, school principal and parents of over 850 students on Wednesday. (Representational Image)

Three days after the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) cancelled the affiliation of Delhi Public School (DPS) East Ahmedabad, the Gujarat government on Wednesday decided to take over the management of the school till the end of the current academic session.

Announcing the decision, Education Minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama said, After a meeting with CBSE officials, the Chief Minister and listening to the parents, we have taken this historic decision to run the school from Class I till XII till the end of this academic session.

The government decision to take over the school came after several rounds of meetings between Education Minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama, Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, senior officials of the education department, CBSE officials, school principal and parents of over 850 students on Wednesday. CBSE deputy secretary Jaiprakash Chaturvedi, and regional officer from Ajmer, Poonam Rani, were part of the Central Board delegation.

Chudasama added, We understand the difficulties children may face if they are shifted to a new school in the middle of the session. So, keeping in mind the benefit of 850 children, the CM took this decision. No child will be asked to shift to another school till this academic session ends.

Following the announcement, the school sent out a message to all parents that said, Dear Parent, this is to inform that all classes from I to XII are functional from tomorrow. Kindly send your wards as per regular schedule, which was signed by the DPS East Ahmedabad principal, Hitesh Puri.

The school got into trouble after it came to light that it has leased out its land without permission from the CBSE to the ashram of self-styled guru Nithyananda who is facing a case for allegedly keeping women in illegal confinement on the ashram premises.

On Sunday, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) withdrew its affiliation to the school citing that the school submitted a forged No-Objection Certificate (NoC) and contradictory statements on leasing out land to the ashram. On Monday, the State Education Department withdrew its permission to the school to run classes I to VIII.

The parents have been demanding that government take over the school till it gets documents and approvals. This has come as a very good news for us and the children whose future was at stake and were suffering for no fault of theirs. My wife had tears in her eyes when I told her about this and our children jumped with joy, said Vikas Sood, one of the parents.

School principal Hitesh Puri said the school should be given three months to submit necessary documents and get back the affiliation. The affiliation was taken away mid-session, so where will the students go? How will they prepare for the board exams? If school has no NoC, it should be given time (to submit one), he said.

On Wednesday, students of Class X and XII sat for their first pre-board that was earlier scheduled for Monday. Students of other classes continued to camp outside the school till evening and called off their protest after the government announced its decision. They had placards saying, We want our school back, education is power. A delegation of parents also met governor Acharya Devvrat, requesting him to intervene.

A resolution passed by the State Education Department late on Wednesday stated that District Education Officer (rural) and District Primary Education Officer (DPEO) will run the school in co-ordination till March 31, 2020. It further clarified that the state government will bear no expenses to run the school but will utilise school funds for the same. The resolution also stressed upon DEO (rural) and DPEO to ensure the school building gets fire safety certificate and structural stability certificate from the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) and Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority (AUDA).

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Gujarat govt takes over DPS East Ahmedabad for current academic session - The Indian Express

The future of financial services lies in consumer-permissioned data. Innovation in this space is about connecting the dots between consumer bank accounts and third-party apps, services and resources. But its about more than that. Its about translating those connections into improved financial wellness and inclusion.

To enhance these benefits, industry focus must be on facilitating consumer empowerment. True empowerment only comes when consumers have access to the information and insights they need to make the best financial decisions for themselves, their families and their businesses. This brand of authentic empowerment will, in turn, drive consumer trust in the data sharing process.

Unfortunately, empowering consumers is all too often an industry buzzword, superficial and empty of any real commitment. There are five key requirements that financial services providers (from banks to data providers to fintechs) need to emphasize if they are to make empowering consumers a reality. These requirements are control, access, transparency, traceability and security. Dedication to not only recognizing these five key areas, but to enhancing each one, will produce products and processes that consumers can feel comfortable trusting with their personal financial data.

Control

Ultimately, its not enough to tell consumers that we have their best interests at heart. We need to give them the ability to control how their data is shared, who has access to their data and how their data is used. Informed consent and centralized permissions portals are two areas where meaningful changes can be implemented.

Informed consent is central to consumer control of personal financial data. And that consent needs to be accessible. For example, navigation systems within applications should showcase designs that are intuitive and user-friendly. Any and all consent language needs to be clear, as concise as possible and easy to understand. Not only is this in everyones best interest; its what consumers are demanding. Too many steps, too much indecipherable fine print and too many confusing processes inhibit informed consent and make things difficult for consumers.

Finally, developers and designers of financial services products should build out centralized permissions portals. These types of portals allow consumers to easily view, modify, add and revoke permissions across their library of financial services. When permissions are buried out of reach, informed consent has not actually been reached. Power only exists when control can be exercised and managed.

Access

The second requirement we need to focus on to encourage true consumer empowerment is access to personal financial data. Account ownership should equal data ownership.

As with control, accessibility depends on ease of use. Service providers should deliver a simple, intuitive process for authentication. Basic user experience changes include minimizing unnecessary steps in every user process and avoiding language that might cause confusion, delays or friction. We know that time-consuming or confusing digital experiences lead to lower rates of adoption. Unfortunately, when consumers abandon a process that does not meet their expectations, they may be missing out on services that would benefit them.

Transparency

Third on the list of requirements is transparency. This transparency manifests in two primary ways. First, consumers must always be able to view, manage, modify and revoke permissions. Second, service terms must be clearly explained. These terms should detail data handling and privacy agreements. Consumers must know exactly who will be accessing their data and how that data will be used. They must also describe consumer options and the consequences of any available choices. Its time to find creative ways to incorporate these terms across the onboarding experience rather than reserving all terms and conditions for a lengthy document at the end of the consumer registration process.

Traceability

Transparency and traceability are twin functions. Traceability ultimately depends on transparency. Comprehensive traceability means that both consumers and data users should be able to map out the routes data takes along the data-sharing network. Each step, each transfer, each service provider should be clearly delineated. This also ensures that security breaches can be quickly and efficiently managed. All parties involved with the data in question should be automatically notified so they can enact proper security protocols.

Security

Finally, any discussion of empowering consumers would be incomplete without careful consideration of security. All financial service providers must have security policies and practices in place to protect consumer data. This means constantly adjusting security measures to include advances in encryption and tokenization technologies. Security and transparency work together. For example, explicit clarity related to data definitions, usage and privacy should be provided to consumers so they can make informed decisions related to data handling and privacy.

In the end, it doesnt matter how convenient or how cutting edge a tool is. Without consumer trust, even the most potentially useful solution will never gain traction in the market. Whats needed now is an industrywide commitment to strengthening consumer control and access and to enhancing transparency, traceability and security throughout the data-sharing process. Only then will we fully earn consumer trust. And its this trust that will launch the future of financial services innovations.

Originally posted here:
Financial Services Can Secure Future Innovation By Focusing On Trust - Forbes

In the last couple of decades, Maines schools have felt effects of childhood trauma brought on by the effects of rural poverty, the opioid crisis and increased urbanization in some parts of the state. This summer, Portland welcomed an influx of asylum seekers from African countries many were families with school-aged children, whose migration story included multiple traumatic experiences. As student populations with diverse needs continue to increase, Maine should prioritize training a K-12 workforce with trauma-informed practices to increase equitable learning outcomes for students who have experienced adverse childhood experiences, or childhood trauma, especially for immigrant, refugee and asylum-seeking students.

As the number of students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds entering Maines K-12 public schools continues to grow, school leaders and educational communities must be prepared to meet the unique needs of these students. Immigrant children and families often acquire traumas in their new communities due to discrimination, acculturation and racism in addition to the traumas they may have experienced in their home countries. Schools need to consider the social and environmental stressors that affect the children of the immigrant families they serve and use research-based interventions to assist students in their development.

For immigrant students, adjusting to the social and cultural behavioral expectations of a classroom, coupled with the long-term effects of adverse childhood experiences or intergenerational trauma, often means they struggle to meet academic expectations. As a result, mental and emotional challenges often manifest in behaviors such as aggression, difficulty controlling behavior and trouble paying attention. A culturally responsive, trauma-informed approach could help reduce disciplinary incidences, which only cause additional stress to students.

Trauma-informed practices emphasize the need for integrated approaches to responding to students with a history of childhood trauma. These practices integrate mental health supports, personal empowerment, and community collaborations to help increase positive student outcomes. Training all staff and personnel working with students in K-12 settings to use trauma-informed practices is a positive step toward equitable access to learning for students with trauma who often lack the self-regulation and resilience necessary for success in school. Training initiatives should pay special attention to include and respect positive cultural beliefs and language when addressing the unique experiences with which immigrant students, children of immigrants and students from historically marginalized communities are challenged. This would ensure students feel their identities are valued and celebrated and can be a source of strength.

By addressing the importance of properly training professionals to understand the long-term effects of childhood traumas, educational professionals can mitigate those effects and avoid further traumatizing students. Maines Legislature has taken positive steps to respond to this issue through a task force with LD 1168, a Resolve to Improve Maines Response to Childhood Trauma. This legislation has the potential to support school systems in meeting the unique challenges of many diverse student groups who have experienced childhood traumas.

If Maine is going to take actionable steps to address inequity in its communities and schools, it should also better address the impacts of race, socioeconomic class and culture in conjunction with efforts to train educational professionals and leadership to respond to childhood trauma. Policies should include language emphasizing a deliberate and intentional attempt to address the systemic disparities often resulting in inequitable access to positive educational experiences for immigrant and refugee students who have experienced childhood trauma. Legislators should continue to enact policies to bring long-term, systemic changes to the ways our communities respond to the social and emotional needs of these diverse children and their families.

Andrea Mercado is a K-12 educator with the Lewiston Public Schools and doctoral student at the University of Maine. This column reflects her views and expertise and does not speak on behalf of the university. Her column is a guest contribution for the Maine chapter of the national Scholars Strategy Network, which brings together scholars across the country to address public challenges and their policy implications. Members columns appear in the BDN every other week.

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Childhood trauma can slow academic development. Here's one way to fix it. - Bangor Daily News

Cumming is an associate professor of journalism at Washington & Lee University.

For millions of Americans, community college is the gateway to higher education, job skills and a better life. This fall, for me, community college has been a gateway in the other direction.

It led me, temporarily, out of the bubble of elite higher education.

With a semester off as a tenured journalism professor at Washington and Lee University, I have spent this fall teaching a writing/research course at Surry Community College. Every week, I drive the 130 miles from Lexington to stay at our sons farm in Fancy Gap and teach a class of 16 challenging students on Tuesdays and Thursdays in Dobson, N.C.

I recommend the experience to other university professors. We have a lot to offer and something to learn.

This is Trump country. And yet, I have found more diversity here than at W&L. Four of my Surry students are Hispanic. One young woman wrote in an assignment of her mothers Hispanic shoe store getting ripped off by a few shoplifters. An African-American single mom in her 30s wrote in another assignment a memo to the principal of her daughters elementary school, questioning the decision to pull her daughter out of the regular class for special help.

One student manages the local Dairy Queen. Another works at Chick-fil-A. Four are Early College high school students. Four are repeating the class. Four more failed to show up or have dropped out.

Virginia has a system of 23 community colleges and an ambitious goal of making first-generation college student an obsolete term, with a college graduate in every household. North Carolinas community college system, once considered one of the most progressive in the country, has 58 campuses.

The funding of this system seems criminally low for being progressive. My pay as a one-class adjunct barely covers mileage and meals, even with the extra $4.70 a week thrown in for my Ph.D.

But the experience has been rewarding. It has freed me from a privileged liberal arts environment and tested my real value as a teacher. If this is left-behind America Trumps unrewarded supporters and demonized immigrants what could I teach them about writing?

A lot. Nonfiction writing, I try to show, is personal empowerment. Instead of a research paper, I gave assignments I thought could be useful to them: a memo, an op-ed, a press release, a blog post, a publishable book review. Writing, I said in every way I could, is connecting with a real audience. Its thinking logically, supporting assertions, making claims that persuade.

And what a time for applying these ideas with the U.S. House engaged in the ultimate Constitutional exercise from the Age of Reason: impeachment of a duly elected President.

I wanted to show respect for them, as they did for me. So for class discussion, I used a few good opinion columns I could find that leaned slightly in Trumps favor.

Professors in their ivory towers wonder what could have gone so wrong with America, that so many citizens could elect a big-time real estate cheat and reality TV star. For some of us, our reaction is a sincerely baffled curiosity, with a sense of obligation to serve the common good in a time of need with our modest skills teaching, scholarship and service.

Community college, as W&Ls provost told me, is where the real heart of American education is happening right now. A Harvard-educated law professor recently left his New York university to teach a semester in ethics in Appalachia, to try to understand what went so wrong in 2016. Evan Mandery was turned down by a Tennessee community college, but eventually taught at Appalachian State, writing that he took solace in the shared moral values he found underlying the argument of liberals and conservatives (but not libertarians, who he said valued abstractions over empathy).

I suspect that other professors would like to teach at least one term or course at a community college, if such experience were rewarded by their home universities. But that would take a fundamental shift in the reward system.

Community colleges could help by making it easier for us to teach there. I was dismayed at how many hoops I had to jump through for almost no pay.

But there are rewards. For me, the best reward is to be let into another world, sometimes poignantly expressed. I come from the kind of place where the tobacco grew and the factories fell, one student wrote. The place where Im from has little to offer and little to gain.

Follow this link:
Cumming: Down to the entryway of higher education - Roanoke Times