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I'm Sofia Morales-Bello's mom, and I want to share with all of you the impact that the Striking Viking Story Pirates have had on my daughter's life. She is now 12 years old, just finished 6th grade with High Honors. Being recognized at age 6 has made her a very well rounded young lady. She has participated in The Houston's Grand Opera Aida, she is an excellent athlete in various sports, and she still cherishes the memories of going to New York City to see her "7 words" story "Abbey is sile" acted. They even made a video of it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGlZbNJP--c&feature=channel_page.

Since then I have stayed in touch and supported this fantastic group in any way I can. I encourage others to do the same: http://www.storypirates.org/contact.html

Thank you Story Pirates for enriching our children lives.

I think that programs like this are essential to children's education. Groups like the Story Pirates help children see just how much they are capable of and that they can accomplish amazing things using their mind and imagination. As a child who was never good at math or science I think it is wonderful to finally see programs that are literature/art based that reach out to children who may struggle in other academic areas. I can only hope that more groups like this will emerge to continue showing children that their ideas matter and that there are people out there listening to what they have to say.

here's the entire link:

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/
ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html

I find it highly irritating when people don't recognize the value of teaching children that their ideas are important. Validating creative thinking and self-expression is vital, no matter what field these children choose to enter.

Not everyone will grow up to be an artist, but everyone needs to know how to communicate within society. Not everyone will grow up to be a mathematician or a scientist, but you never hear anyone calling for schools to cut back on those programs.

Sophia and everyone,
You may be interested in the views of Ken Robinson. He has an interesting counterpoint to your remark. This link is to a 20-minute talk he gave at a TED conference. He discusses the extraordinary creativity of children, and how society and our complicated future can use the open-mindedness and flexibility of children more than ever. It's worth listening to the whole thing:

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html

Sophia
we also need well rounded people in " today's world."

I find it highly irritating that we continue to have Children concentrate on these soft arts instead of maths and sciences which are much more necessary in today's world.