Is the Duke Talent search akin to a Nigerian banking scam?
Creed came home with a letter yesterday alerting us that he is eligible' to participate in the Duke Talent Identification Program.
Apparently this program has been around for 27 years now, and I guess back in 1980, my parents must have thrown the note away, or maybe Duke couldn't find me. We did move around a lot.
Anyway at Creed's school, the kids who scored in the top 5 percentile on some of those standardized tests got this letter from Duke University.
For the low, low price of about $130, Creed can sit alongside high schoolers and take not just the S.A.T. but also the A.C.T.
Why would I want him to take these tests when he is 12 and in 7th grade, you ask? Perhaps because I have $130 or thereabouts to throw in the garbage can.
According to Duke, which by the way is a fine school that accidentally, I'm sure, rejected my application for college, this program would help me compare my child's performance to others across the country.
Hmmm. I thought that's what the standardized tests did.
If this might help Duke give him a scholarship, that would be good. Then I could have all the Prepaid Tuition money back and we could use it to get braces for Lily, since I'm sure she will want perfect teeth like the rest of the kids in Plantation.
But I'm just not sure what the benefit of this program would be. My husband actually remembers the Duke talent search and claims he came home with a similar note in his backback several and many decades ago.
Or maybe I could use it to help me defend Creed at school. This particular line from Duke's website might be useful:
Exceptionally bright students often go unrecognized because they hide their talents, underachieve, or exhibit behavioral problems.
One of the frightening tidbits I gleaned from Duke's website in reviewing this is the advice that you should start planning your child's college when he is in middle school. Please raise your hand if you have done this.
Personally I feel I should at least wait to see if he makes it into a professional sports league or if our house is going to be destroyed by a hurricane, prompting us to move to Nashville.
Gretchen Day-Bryant has a son in high school and a daughter in middle school. She’s lived to tell about the struggles of juggling little kids and work.
Joy Oglesby has a preschooler...
Cindy Kent Fort Lauderdale mother of three. Her kids span in ages from teenager to 20s.
Rafael Olmeda and his wife welcomed their first son in Feb. 2009, and he's helping raise two teenage stepdaughters.
Lois Solomon lives in Boca Raton with her husband and three daughters.
Georgia East is the parent of a five-year-old girl, who came into the world weighing 1 pound, 13 ounces.
Brittany Wallman is the mother of Creed, 15, and Lily, 7, and is married to a journalist, Bob Norman. She covers Broward County government, which is filled with almost as much drama as the Norman household. Almost.
Chris Tiedje is the Social Media Coordinator and the father of a 7-year-old girl, and two boys ages 4 and 3.
Kyara Lomer Camarena has a 2-year-old son, Copelan, and a brand new baby. 
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