“Companionship”
is a gift
It's because of Love!
Eric Lin Tsai-Yue
Founder of Give a Class association
If one day we can make a living through our “talents,” we can definitely live a happy and carefree life.
Happiness should not be the privilege of a small group of people! The founder of “Give a Class Association Taiwan,” Lin Tsai-Yue, recalled one episode: one day, his four-year-old son tried to imitate a mouth painter. He tried to control a brush with his mouth to draw but found it more difficult than he had imagined. Then the boy said, “I‘m so lucky.” That incident made Mr. Lin make up his mind to help the physically or mentally challenged students or minority students in the remote villages. Reflecting on his personal experience, he found that the best gift he could give to children in the remote areas is the lesson that “learning can be fun.”
Eric (Mr. Lin Tsai-yue), who went to the US for education when he was only 13 years old, decided to return to his homeland by contributing to education for young students. Now, being the father of three young children, to some extent, he might be experimenting with out-of-school education by founding the Give a Class Association Taiwan. Mr. Lin has established a philosophy that learning motivation; should be the focus when we try to educate and inspire our kids. It’s especially true with the physically or mentally challenged students, or kids from broken families in the orphanages. They are in urgent need of inspiration and encouragement, and they need to be cultivated to find their motives to learn. Once they are enlightened, they would believe “learning can be fun” and then build their confidence. Finding their cause can be a therapeutic power that enables these children to do things well and be competitive enough to survive in the society.
In 2015, “Give a Class Taiwan” was officially in operation. They focused on helping students from aboriginal families in remote tribes, especially the physically or mentally challenged students and kids with special physical or mental conditions. By introducing courses of dance, theater, picture books, floral arrangement, nail art, kendo, and literature creation that are specially designed to cater to their individual needs, the association tried to find the potential of the children so that they could see their own unique abilities to be competitive enough to survive in the society. Mr. Lin Tsai-yue said, “We found art lessons to be a very inspiring incentive” after seeing the possibilities in the children after offering them these courses.
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“To Find the Motivation of Learning”
Lin’s parents were both working in the early education industry, so they had insights that might be different from most Taiwanese parents. Eric‘s parents would not force him to study for the tests. They found that asking young kids to “recite” the contents of the textbooks was kind of abusive to the kids. Not being able to change the existing conventions in the schools in Taiwan, Eric‘s parents sent him to the US to receive his education. Eric’s life was tougher than that of many Taiwanese kids in the US He studied in a boarding school, completed his studies, and found a career in the finance industry in the US After he got a diploma of an in-service training program at Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, he decided to come back to Taiwan to stay with his family.
Lin shared that when he was studying abroad, because he could not fit into the education system in Taiwan, he always felt that he owed something to his homeland. However, he worked in the securities firms and hedge fund companies after he came back to Taiwan, and he’d never thought of establishing his own business. Then when Eric‘s wife got pregnant, he began to ponder upon a question: should he make his child study in Taiwan? Then the idea of starting a business occurred in his mind.
Though he started out majoring in business, Eric chose to devote himself to the educational industry. He pointed out that “the key to becoming a successful entrepreneur is to solve problems for people.” Considering the principle that chances arise from people‘s needs, Lin Tsai-Yue built his business by responding to a common questions many Taiwanese parents would have: Is cramming really necessary for students in primary and secondary schools?
Then Mr. Lin Tsai-yue proposed the idea that “teaching can be practiced by every devoted person, and learning can happen anywhere.” They invited experts to offer courses and find suitable students for them; their efforts have manifested another possible method of out-of-school education, offering an alternative for conventional school education.
Lin's online platform was quite popular after it was launched, which was a great foundation for the “Give a Class” project. When Jie-Shou Junior High School in Fuhsing Township in Taoyuan County made a request for a dance course for students in the mountain, Mr. Lin promised to help. It was surprising that he managed to find the teacher and raised enough funds for the course within 24 hours. The first course was offered because the Give a Class project was launched.
After the course began, the teacher who went all the way to the mountain realized that 95% of the students in the class were aboriginal students from Jie-Shou Junior High School. They had kinesthetic talents but hadn't had the chance to receive formal training. The devotion of the teacher became a hit news story, and “Give a Class” project quickly became known to many people around Taiwan. The project even caught the attention of former first lady Jou Mei-ching, who was serving as the general director of Mega Band Foundation.
Some experts are willing to teach, and some schools and relevant institutions have made requests for various types of courses. Lin Tsai-Yue decided to make “Give a Class” an individual project and devoted more efforts in the educational platform “Ni hao, wo hou,” a project operating on private donations.
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Lin knew that it was a proper time to launch the project. He trusted the operational affairs to his partner Chen Hsin-ting, and “Give a Class” project was launched. They recruited teachers and visited schools in remote areas to investigate what courses were really needed in those schools. However, the association was founded on the belief that 'knowledge comes with a price.' Lin would offer the teachers hourly pay that is higher than everage; for example, a physical training course for beginners would cost about 30 thousand dollars, so the association would legitimately set a standard for the quality of these courses. At first, Lin was wondering whether to establish an association so that it can receive legal donations from a foundation. He was worried that the initiative would change after Give a Class began receiving financial support from a foundation.
"Companionship" is a gift
Lin Tsai-yue started his business to solve the problems of his clients and fulfill his clients' needs. The educational initiative was for the same purpose.
Though it was never a smooth path, Lin was thankful that “Give a Class” project allowed him to see different aspects of Taiwan. As he was promoting the project, he encountered people from different social classes and came to understand the predicaments faced by children who were raised up by their grandparents, the aborigines, and the physically or mentally-challenged children. These people and their stories were something that he seldom had chances to see before he was working on this project, and these experiences turned out to be enriching his life.
Looking back on working on “Give a Class” Association, Lin said not only he but also his son and other family members have found a connection with people from different social classes in Taiwan. They found the cause of helping others and kept in mind their purpose of starting the business. They gathered the public's efforts to devote more resources to help kids in the remote areas, enabling kids from underprivileged families to have a brighter future.
As the founder of “Give a Class” Association, Lin Tsai-yue said that instead of reach out to more areas and more schools, he would focus on one school or one area at a time and provide “long-term and continuous” assistance . He hopes to care for the underprivileged and offer them exactly the learning opportunity they need until they no longer need the support from the association. The most important thing is that someday, those who have received help from “Give a Class” could pay it forward, that the kids can someday feel empowered and in turn be able to help others. The KPI of “Give a Class” is not all about how many dancers, musicians, or painters that the project could nourish.
However, Lin said, the kids in the mountain all believe: “they will be back!”