The first half of Mark Lin’s story sounds like a classic example of the American dream.
The father of four grew up in New York as a child of immigrant parents. He went on to work in Wall Street and then started working in the tech sector in Silicon Valley. His last company was eventually bought by Google for, as he put it, “a large sum of money.”
He did well for himself, but ultimately found the fruits of his success to be hollow.
"Once you get past the struggle, once you reach it, it's not as fulfilling as I thought it would be. It felt empty at that time,” Lin told The Guardian.
This brought Lin to the second part of his story, the one that would bring him to enrol his daughter at the Moonlight International Academy in Prince Edward Island. The academy is a Buddhist private school for children and youth in the community of Little Sands.
“I wanted education where the main focus was being compassionate, where academics were a complement,” Lin said.
“Currently it's the other way around”.
Lin was one of several parents of children enrolled at Moonlight, who shared their stories at a public forum in Charlottetown on Monday morning. Moonlight Academy is affiliated with the Great Enlightenment Buddhist Institute Society (GEBIS) which has a campus in Little Sands.
Many of the parents of children enrolled at Moonlight lived elsewhere, in Taiwan or the United States. Many were on P.E.I. for a visit during the Christmas break. Most who spoke appeared to be professionals with credentials from Ivy League universities in the United States, such as Harvard.
Several said they decided to enrol their children in the academy partly due to the moral and spiritual component of its curriculum.
Monday's event was organized partly in response to recent questions raised about the Buddhist academy in the legislature.
In late November, several Green MLAs suggested the isolation of children from their families, as well as the inability of the children to be able to communicate in English, raised questions about the vulnerability of the children.
Green Leader Peter Bevan-Baker also referred to the academy as a “residential-type school,” a seeming reference to Indian residential schools known for rampant sexual abuse.
Geoffrey Yang, executive secretary of GEBIS, said parents became aware of some of these criticisms through news reports.
"We see this as the beginning of many communication activities going forward," Yang said.
Pei-ru (Nancy) Wu, who lives in Montague with her husband Wayne, has enrolled her teenage daughter Phyllis Tara Chien at Moonlight.
Wu, who is herself Buddhist, admitted contact with her daughter was limited. But she said she had confidence in both the curriculum and practices of the private school.
“We surely wouldn't make any decision, especially when they are young and vulnerable as a child, to go anywhere which is risky or dangerous,” Wu said.
Wu said news of the comments in the legislature have caused worries from parents.
“If there is miscommunication, then let's talk,” Wu said.
"We would like to demonstrate our full support for our child's education."
Twitter.com/stu_neatby
