The interesting thing is that different people have different reward-value systems. My eldest son, for instance, would spend more time and energy that I would to determine just the right amount of work required to pass and graduate; no more, no less. Could he have gotten straight-A's? Yes, he could have. He knows it. He didn't care. To him it was more worthwhile to spend the energy to figure out how to get straight C's, because he absolutely hated doing the schoolwork. It was infuriating. To him the reward was the C average. If he got a B in one class, you can be sure he'd get a D in another.

I wanted to strangle him.

His Calculus teacher was similarly frustrated. He tried all sorts of carrot-stick-reward systems, but ultimately summed up Joshua in this way: "Joshua is going to get a B in my class. He won't do any homework at all but will ace every exam, and that will average out to a B. And I'll bet my paycheque that he scores a 5 (out of 5) on the AP (college level) exam." (and he was right)

I swear, I nearly fell of my chair in laughter at that. I was in a room with 6 teachers all trying to figure out a way to motivate Joshua. It was both embarrasing, yet a proud moment for me.